Impossible to Deny
by Jaiaelle
Summary: The students of McKinley get paired for prom via an online survey.  Numerous pairings, friendship and romance, including Quinn/Artie, Puck/Rachel, Brittany/Santana, Finn/Sam etc.  Written for the Quartie ficathon.
1. Random, or Not So Much, Selection

_Author's Note: Written for the Quartie ficathon! This will be a two possibly three shot...or perhaps more. Who knows? I probably won't go into much detail with all the pairings...but I might. I'm not sure yet. Also, this serves as an intro. It's not too detailed in general. And the title...took me FOREVER to come up with and is really long! Please read and review. Let me know what you want to see, what I could do to improve things, etc. _

_Based on a prompt/request made at the Quartie forum about Quinn and Artie being paired together for a dance via online profiles._

**_Impossible to Deny: How Progress, Technology and Fate All Conspired to Bring Two People Together_**

**_Part One: Random, or Not So Much, Selection_**

"You have got to be kidding me."

Hearing Quinn's words, Artie rolled to a stop, staring with her at the bulletin board that displayed the school's announcements for all the school to read. "What is it?"

Jabbing a finger at a yellow piece of paper that had the words "Progress: Technology is Our Future" at the top, she said, "Did you see this stupid idea Figgins has for prom? Progress and techonolgy! An internet themed prom! We have to buy our tickets online and need to go on Facebook and confirm that we will be attending the event."

Adjusting his glasses, Artie frowned. "That doesn't sound too bad."

"Yeah, wait until you hear the next part."

Glancing up at her reddening face, he nodded. "I'm listening."

Facing him, hands on her hips, she intoned, "We need to fill out some survey online so that we can be paired with our date."

Not sure he heard her right, though how could he not have, Artie leaned forward a bit. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"We don't get to choose our dates for prom! How lame is that?"

It was pretty lame and Artie was sure that most people in the school would raise a fuss about it. However, he was proven wrong when the majority of students remained quiet on the subject. Artie himself was upset because he had already asked Brittany, even though they weren't technically dating anymore, and she had said yes. It wasn't so much the actually going with her part but the whole going to prom with one of the most popular girls in school thing. He, Artie Abrams, with Brittany Pierce. No one, especially not himself, had ever thought something like that would happen.

Quinn wasn't just upset. She was furious. But for all her protesting, Figgins refused to budge. Not even Coach Sylvester took it up as a cause, thinking it was actually quite clever. Didn't they know that they were ruining her plans of being Sam's date? The future Prom King and Queen should attend the dance together, even if they weren't technically a couple at the moment. Though Quinn was sure that would change once they were crowned and all his doubts about her supposed feelings for Finn faded away (which they would, at the dance...Quinn would make sure of it).

In the end, anyone who wanted to attend had to fill out the survey.

"Are you an early riser or do you like to sleep in?"

"What kind of books do you like to read? Select at least one from the following genres."

"If you were a superhero, which would you be? Select from the following list."

"How would you describe your sense of humor? Select at least one from the following list."

"Do you remember your dreams?"

"Pirates or Ninjas?"

"Describe what you look for in a romantic partner."

The website designer informed those who were taking the survey, in a note underneath the long list of questions, that partners were chosen for each other based on compatibility, which didn't necessarily mean matching answers but finding people who had mostly similar interests and personalities but were not exact copies of one another.

Grumbling the whole time, Quinn filled out the survey, answering honestly, believing that, even though the survey was stupid, she would probably get Sam. They were obviously compatible, picture perfect even.

Sighing the whole time, Artie filled out the survey, answering honestly, even though, in doing so, he knew there was no way he'd get Brittany. They were obviously not compatible, at all really.

The day finally came when the dates were posted, three weeks ahead of time which would, hopefully, give the couples a chance to color coordinate (so Principal Figgins announced on the loud speaker).

The first person to see the list was Rachel, who hoped to get Finn but dreaded she would get Kurt, since the two of them liked the same type of music. Seeing as there had been no option for "sexual orientation" (or "gender" for that matter) on the survey, that very well could be the case. Running her finger down the list, she found her name listed next to - "Noah Puckerman," she read aloud. Spinning around, she caught his eye and smiled a small, shy smile, which he almost returned.

"Wasn't even planning on going," he told her, when she met him on the fringes of the crowd.

"Well," she sang, linking her arm with his. "Now you have to."

"Great," he replied, his tone a complaining one but the glimmer in his eye suggesting that he wasn't actually displeased about being Rachel's date to the prom.

Elbowing her way through the crowd, Santana made her way to the list, a big grin on her face when she saw who she had been partnered with. "Britt!" she cried.

The tall blonde next to her squealed then wrapped her arms around her best friend, almost toppling the other girl in the process.

For once, Santana didn't chastise her friend for the public display of affection but, instead, simply dragged her away from the list so others could see who had been selected as their dates.

Kurt and Tina arrived at the same time, mouths falling open when they saw who they had been paired with.

"This doesn't make any sense," Tina sputtered. "You're -"

"We'll make the best of it," Kurt grunted, before leaving her standing there alone.

Her boyfriend, who she had thought the survey would pair her with, quickly stepped up beside her. Next to his name, Mike Chang, was Penelope Christiansen, a name belonging to the super hot new girl who was thinking about joining glee club. "Sweet!" Under his girlfriend's withering glare, he cleared his throat then said, very matter of fact, "I can get her to join glee club."

"Ugh!" was Tina's annoyed response, as she marched off.

Behind Mike, Mercedes eyes scanned the list, looking for her name. And there it was, next to Matt Rutherford. Confused, Mercedes looked around but didn't spot him. Perhaps there had been an error. Matt Rutherford had switched schools, hadn't he? Feeling glum, since this meant she didn't have a date, she scuffled away, hanging her head.

Sam and Finn bounded together at the same.

"Dude," said Sam. "I really hope I get paired with Quinn."

"Dude," said Finn. "I really hope I get paired with Rachel."

"Uh…" Sam glanced at his friend out of the corner of his eye. "Heard she got Puckerman."

"What?" Finn exploded, turning beet red. "Then I hope I got Santana or that hot new girl Penelope!"

Refraining from telling Finn those two had also already been paired off with others, Sam turned to the list. When he saw his date for the dance, his face fell. "Uh, dude?" Nudging the other boy to get his attention, Sam nodded toward their names, which were side by side. "I think you're my date."

Inspecting the list, Finn confirmed it was true. "This…this is awesome!"

Tilting his head at Finn's unexpected reaction, Sam asked, "How so?"

"We don't need to worry about like…date stuff. A girl would want the perfect corsage and a good dinner and…you know how it goes."

Thinking that Finn's logic actually made some sense, Sam shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Cool!"

Once that was settled, the two boys walked off down the hall together.

Two of the few remaining stragglers, Quinn and Artie trudged forward, neither happy that those who they had intended to go with had been selected for others. Corners of their mouths turned down, they gazed at the list together, both surprised at what they saw.

"It's…you!" they breathed at the same time.

Furrowing her brow, Quinn leaned forward, to make sure their eyes hadn't been playing tricks on them.

Twisting his hands in his lap, Artie murmured, "I know you're probably disappointed," he began.

"Disappointed?" she exclaimed, spinning to face him. "Not at all! I'm relieved! I thought I'd get Sam or, if not him, some moron."

Shaking his head, Artie said, "That could never be possible. You are not compatible with a moron."

"Clearly not," she replied, smiling down at him.

Blushing under her bright eyes, Artie stammered, "I knew I wouldn't get Brittany but I thought I'd get someone…not awesome. I'm glad I was wrong."

Biting her bottom lip, Quinn murmured, "I'm glad you were wrong too."

For a second, the two grew quiet, eyes darting around the now empty hall. Several minutes passed before Quinn mumbled that she should be going. She hadn't gotten far down the hall when she stopped and called over her shoulder, "Oh, and I'm wearing red to the dance."

Eyes on her swaying hips, Artie watched her go, wondering if that meant he should get her a red corsage. He had never gotten anyone a corsage before. So it would be his first time doing that and attending a prom…

With Quinn Fabray at that.

Considering all the other pairings, as well as his own, he had a feeling that the night would prove quite interesting.


	2. Message Received

_Author's Note: I've decided to make this longer than a two/three shot. Hope that's okay. ) _

**_Part Two: Message Received _**

With a loud clap, which stirred most of the glee club kids out of their slight stupors, Mr. Schuester entered the room, cheerfully greeting them, then asking, "You guys excited for prom?"

Instead of responding jubilantly, most of the kids barely reacted, or at least reacted with an extreme lack of noise. Quinn and Artie shared a secret smile while slightly nodding. Mike suffered a blow to the ribs from his girlfriend for his very enthusiastic YES. Puck and Rachel slyly glanced at each other as if not aware of those surrounding them and, perhaps, staring at them. Finn turned to high five his date for the prom, a goofy smile plastered on his face, even when said date did not high five back. Sam kind of sulked, eyes on the back of Quinn's head. Tina and Kurt had similar stances, with their arms crossed over their chests and frowns on their faces. Santana kicked her feet up, laying her legs across Brittany's lap and half grinned, while Brittany let out the tiniest of squeals.

As if answering for everyone, Mercedes spoke up. "No, we're not, Mr. Schuester."

Frowning, Will's eyes swept over the more dismal of the group, questioning their moroseness. "What's up, guys? This is your Junior prom! I remember my Junior prom. It was…well, it wasn't quite the night I expected but-"

"You don't get it, Mr. Schue," Mercedes said, resting her in chin in her hand. "We don't get to pick our dates. That's half the fun, isn't it?"

"Well," Will started, then faltered. "I…guess it can be a big part of the fun but, guys, come on, it's still your prom! I'm sure you'll all have a great time. Make the most of it. Maybe we can even -"

Before he could continue on, a student helper from the office appeared, depositing a note in the Spanish teacher's hands before vanishing just as quietly as he came. As Will read it, the smile on his face dropped. "Oh no…" he muttered.

"What's wrong, Mr. Schuester?" Quinn asked, tearing her eyes away from Artie, who she had been studying in profile rather absent mindedly.

"I…have to make the most of it," he said to himself, in an assuring tone. Realizing the kids were all focused on him, he lifted his eyes. "Uh…it appears as if the teacher chaperones for the prom were also paired by filling out online surveys and…I'm going with…" Pausing, he cleared his throat and ran a finger along the inside collar of his shirt. "Sue."

He had expected the room to erupt in a flurry of conversation but instead it became almost eerily silent.

"Still want to make the most of it, Mr. Schue?" Santana asked, mocking him a little in her tone and with her eyes. "And I, for one, don't need to make the most of it. I'm going with my girl here."

Grinning, Brittany brought her hands together in an almost soundless applause. "She means me," she clarified when no one responded to Santana.

"Lucky you two," Mercedes huffed. "My date doesn't even go to this school. There was glitch in the system and guess who gets the shaft." Sighing, Mercedes stood to her feet. "Mr. Schuester, do you mind if I head out? I really don't feel like being here right now." She didn't even wait for Will to answer, leaving when his mouth was only half way opened.

Watching her leave, Quinn felt kind of bad, her line of vision falling to her lap. After several minutes, she convinced herself that it wasn't her problem. The school had made the mistake and Mercedes wasn't even her friend, not anymore at least. Straightening her back, she paid attention to Mr. Scheuster as well as she could but her mind kept picturing Mercedes' slumping figure trudging out the classroom.

Once glee club was over, Quinn readied herself to leave but came to a pause when Artie rolled in front of her.

"Hey," he said, simply.

"Hi," she responded, crossing her feet at her ankles and waiting for him to continue.

"I was thinking we could out to dinner before we -"

From the other side of the room Finn's voice loudly interrupted Artie's dinner invitation. "Dude!" he bellowed, placing an arm around Sam's shoulders. "I made us reservations at this restaurant so we can have dinner before the prom."

"You did what?" Sam exclaimed as the two boys made their leave. "I thought we were passing on that kind of stuff…"

Scrunching her brow, Quinn wondered at the exchange then turned her attention back to Artie. "Were you going to suggest going to dinner before the dance starts? Because I would like that."

Grinning, Artie nodded. "I know exactly where we should go, too."

Tilting her head, Quinn waited for him to elaborate but he didn't. "And where is that?"

His grin turned into a smirk and he shrugged. "If we're compatible, as the survey claims, then I know you'll love it."

Giving a slight roll of her eyes, Quinn stretched her legs before standing. "I don't think those things are all that reliable. I mean, two people can have lots in common and similar personalities but it doesn't mean they're meant to be. Like Tina and Kurt. Or…Mr. Schuester and Coach Sylvester. Maybe on paper or, in this case, on screen, they look good together but…they'd kill each other!"

"You have a valid point," Artie said, wheeling beside her as she headed toward the door. "But it's still true that we have things in common and, apparently, similar personalities, which actually makes sense because well…sometimes you and I are the only ones laughing about something. Like when-"

"Artie," she interjected. "I don't mean to be rude but I have to get to cheerleading practice and being late is not good."

"Uh, right." Blushing, Artie twiddled his hands. "I was simply trying to say that you and I liking a lot of the same things guarantees that you will like my surprise. Plus, I've heard you mention it before."

Smiling, Quinn exited the room. "Now I'm excited. I love surprises…most of the time." With a wave, she took off down the hall.

Artie smiled after her then spun around, startled when he spotted Sam standing, arms akimbo, directly down the hall. The blonde haired boy menacingly marched toward Artie, assuming a more affable posture once closer to him. "Hey, Sam…" Pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, Artie raised his eyes to the other boy.

"Artie! I have to talk to you about something pretty important, man," Sam said, his tone light.

"What's that?" Artie asked, not feeling wary in the slightest.

Leaning over a little, Sam's voice became more hard edged. "I expect to dance with my girl at prom. And I expect that no one will infringe upon that right."

Clearing his throat several times, Artie finally murmured, in an intimidated fashion, "I th-thought you two broke up. Not that I was intending on infringing anyone or anything like that but I was just…what I mean is, I'm technically broken up with Brittany, because of that whole thing with Tina, when Britt thought something that wasn't true, with the feelings and all, but it wasn't really-"

"Okay," Sam laughed, patting Artie's shoulder in an almost demeaning way. "I get it. So we're cool then?"

"Um, yeah…"

With a nod and a kind of weird smile, Sam took off, not even glancing behind him as he did so.

They were cool, Artie knew, but the message had been implicit: Sam wanted Quinn all to himself at the dance and wasn't about to let the date she had been paired with by an online survey change that.


	3. It's Just You and Me and Everyone Else

**_Part Three: It's Just You and Me and Everyone Else_**

After cheerleading practice, Brittany and Santana were waiting for Quinn on the edge of the field. Because they hadn't done so in quite some time gave Quinn a mental pause but she accepted their greetings in as friendly a manner as she could manage and walked with them toward the locker room.

"Listen, Q, here's the deal," began Santana, right before they entered the girl's locker room. "Artie belongs to Brittany."

"Belongs to him?" Quinn asked, incredulously. "I'm pretty sure he belongs to himself."

Stamping her foot, Santana answered, "You know what I mean. So don't think you can charm him away from her, Barbie."

Raising an eyebrow, she stared Santana down, inwardly feeling triumphant when the other girl glanced away, then turned toward Brittany. "You have nothing to worry about, Britt. Artie is an amazing guy but I like Sam…"

Twirling the hair from her ponytail around her finger, Brittany responded with a joyful, "Okay!" then skipped into the locker room.

As soon as Brittany was out of earshot, Santana gripped Quinn's forearm, preventing her from leaving. "You don't sound too sure about liking Sam. And you really seem to think Artie's an amazing guy."

"So?" Yanking her arm out of Santana's grasp, Quinn spun on her heel, away from Santana and towards the locker room. "He is an amazing guy. Any idiot with half a brain could figure that out. Which must mean Tina has less than that. Anyway, you have nothing to worry about. I don't plan on stealing Brittany's boyfriend." From the glimpse out of the corner of her eye, it almost seemed like Santana looked disappointed but Quinn believed she must be imagining things.

* * *

"Two weeks to the dance," commented Tina, sinking into the seat beside him. "Are you excited?"

Without looking up from his gamer magazine, Artie shrugged.

"I'm not," Tina continued. "Mike's all…happy about going with Penelope what's her face." Hunching her shoulders, Tina slumped in her seat.

"Tina," said Artie, without moving his line of vision from the article about Halo. "You have nothing to worry about. Mike's devoted to you." Even though you're clearly only dating him for shallow reasons, he added in his head.

"I guess." Interlocking her fingers, she waited for Artie to say more but, when he didn't, she moved to another seat, further away from him.

A few minutes later, Quinn had taken her place. It wasn't unusual for her to sit next to him in the front row. More often than not, it was her preferred seat. "Hey."

Smiling at her, he responded, "Hey."

Twiddling her thumbs, Quinn appeared poised to say something else but didn't.

"What's up?" he asked, furrowing his brow.

"Oh…it's…it's nothing." Biting her bottom lip at his extended stare, she focused on the piano. When she just couldn't take his penetrating gaze anymore, she faced him again. "This dance, it's…it's not really like a date. I'm not really but kind of am with Sam-"

"Oh!" he interrupted, turning a light shade of red. "I wasn't thinking of it like a date date. Because I'm not really but kind of am with Brittany and so there's that." Stumbling awkwardly over his words, he kept talking though his brain was yelling at him to shut up. "And, I mean, you're hot but not just hot but also beautiful, not that I spend a lot of time thinking about that… All I mean is that, even though this is not a real date and we're kind of with other people, I'm honored to be your date, though it's not a date date. But not just because you're hot but, you know, you're smart and funny and…I should probably shut up now." Clamping a hand over his mouth, Artie eyed her, waiting for her to say something, anything.

Instead, she laughed, amusement dancing in her hazel eyes. "Thank you for that barrage of compliments, Artie," she said, through her continual laughter. Taking a few breaths, she calmed herself, then said, "I think you are all those things too and I'm honored to be attending with you as well."

Confused, Artie tilted his head. "You think I'm all of those things?"

"Yes…" Counting off on her fingers, Quinn listed back what he had said. "Smart, funny, hot…beautiful." Smirking, she leaned forward, her breath itching across his cheek. "Especially the last one."

Letting out a strangled chuckle, Artie averted his eyes just as Mr. Schuester entered the room. He probably would've laughed harder had she not admitted that she thought he was hot and had been completely serious about it. He had actually never been called "hot" per se. Not even by the girls he had dated (all two of them). It was…interesting to have finally been labeled hot but he wasn't sure what to make of it. It entered his mind to ask her if she really thought he was hot but figured that if he did, he would make things so awkward he would surely be given the most awkward person of the year award.

Once glee club was over, he hurried out of the room.

Quinn watched him, unsure of the reason for his mad dash out of the room. For the briefest of seconds, she contemplated that he had left in such a hurry because of something she had said earlier but that seemed highly unlikely.

She was in the middle of gathering her things, when Sam sauntered over and slung an arm around her. Surprised, since he had recently been keeping his distance, more or less, due to the whole fiasco where Quinn had admitted to maybe still having feelings for Finn. She had since told Sam that was untrue, though Finn was her first love. It's not as if those feelings could fade over night and, of course, she would always have a special place for him in her heart. But she couldn't tell Sam any of that. "Hi…" she said, trying not to stagger under the weight of his arm.

"Hey. So, I was thinking that you, me, Artie and Finn could all get a limo for prom."

"Oh." Jutting out her bottom lip, Quinn though about his offer, almost accepted then remembered something. "Oh, no…we couldn't do that. We have dinner plans and I know you two also do. I think it would be best if we went separate." Opening his mouth, Sam started to protest but Quinn pressed a finger to his lips. "We'll have plenty of time together at the dance."

Disappointed, Sam let his shoulders sink a little. "Oh, okay. Yeah, the dance." Dropping his arm from around her shoulders, he shuffled toward the door, not even looking at her as he left.

He had just exited through the door when Finn practically attacked him. "Hey, guess what?" Quinn heard Finn saying excitedly. "I got us a stretch hummer for prom, man! Isn't that awesome?"

"Uh…yeah, that's awesome."

Letting out a small laugh at Finn's exuberance and Sam's apparent lack of it, Quinn put the strap of her bag over her shoulder, heading out into the hall, stopping when she spotted Mercedes leaned up, sad expression in place, against her locker. Blinking a couple of times, Quinn walked past her, not even slowing down in the process.


	4. Secrets, Secrets

_Author's Note: Feel free to make suggestions on what you might like to see in this. :) Thanks!_

_**Part Four: Secrets, Secrets**_

During last period, Artie's teacher recruited Artie to take a note to the office. On the way there, he spotted Brittany staring into her locker. Even though he was on a teacher sanctioned errand and probably should have kept going, he slowed down, coming to a stop beside her.

"Hey, Britt…is everything okay?"

Pivoting on one foot, slowly, she faced him. "Yes. I was trying to find my pink notebook and I can't. I need it for class."

"Um…" Glancing into Brittany's locker, Artie spotted the pink notebook and frowned. "You do realize it's class time right now, don't you? And the pink notebook is right there."

Her eyes followed the direction of his point and she grabbed the bright pink notebook, clutching it to her chest.

"You're only fifteen minutes late, Britt. Want me to walk - er, roll you to class?" Tilting his head back, he smiled up at her, confused when she didn't return the smile.

"No." Biting her top lip, Brittany appeared conflicted before spinning around and rushing down the hall.

More perplexed then ever, Artie frowned, blinking several times. After a few seconds, he shook his head and continued with his original task. When he arrived at the office, he was surprised to find Quinn behind the secretary's desk, eyes on the computer's screen.

"Quinn?"

At the sound of his voice, she jumped, spilling a container of pens and pencils all over the floor. Issuing a few curse words under her breath, she bent to pick them up. "You startled me."

Pushing himself forward, so he could rest his arms on the desk, he asked her, "What were you doing?"

Stiffening, she clicked something on the computer, eyes once more on the screen. Without answering him, she scribbled words on a piece of paper, clicked again, then made as if to leave.

Frowning, he asked his question again, wide blue eyes locked on her face.

There was a slight waver in her voice as she replied, "Nothing…"

Narrowing his eyes, he regarded her suspiciously. "If you say so. I won't tell anyone," he added, almost as an afterthought.

Smiling at him, she muttered a small thanks, then hurried out.

Artie watched her, head cocked to one side, thinking about her smile, for some reason. It was beautiful, of course, but it was also genuine, a rarity with her. Too often, he noticed that her smiles were stretched, thin, forced. He was glad that he had been on the receiving end of one that seemed real. She had been gone but two minutes when the secretary returned. Apparently, Quinn had timed her secret mission, whatever it had been, perfectly.

* * *

Five minutes before glee club started, Quinn was standing near Brittany and Santana, next to their lockers, as they discussed their choices in evening gowns for the prom.

"Tight and white!" Brittany sang.

Raising one eyebrow, Santana wondered aloud if Britt had chosen that because it rhymed.

Nodding, Brittany said, "Yes, it rhymed! I think Artie will like my dress. Do you think he'll like it, Quinn?"

Drawn into the conversation suddenly, Quinn "huh"-ed, glancing at the other two girls. "I'm sorry, what did you say, Britt?"

"Britts," explained Santana, with a roll of her eyes. "Was asking you if you think Artie will like her tight, white dress."

"Umm…" Noticing Sam approaching,with Finn, as usual, glued to his side, Quinn gave a nod. "I'm sure he will. But his favorite color is red…"

"It is?" Removing a fork from her locker, Brittany began combing it through her hair, a skill she had learned from the little mermaid, as she often told both Quinn and Santana. "I didn't know that. But I want to wear tight and white!"

Under her breath, San muttered, "White's my favorite color…" just as Sam and Finn finished their slow meander down the hall, stopping in front of the girls.

"Hey, Quinn," Sam breathed, leaning towards her. "What's up?"

Grinning up at her ex and soon to be boyfriend again, she replied, "Oh, nothing. Just talking about our dresses for prom…"

Moving his lips closer to hers, he murmured, "Bet you'll be hot."

Not sure if he was going to kiss her, since they hadn't kissed for a few weeks, due to the whole Finn thing, Quinn pursed her lips and waited.

Pulling back, he winked at her. "Hottest girl there, I'm sure. Think Finn'll agree with me?"

There was no mistaking the drastic change in his tone, from light hearted to dark in a matter of seconds. "Um…what he thinks doesn't really…"

"And we're going to Mario's!" Quinn heard Finn joyfully proclaiming. "In a stretch Hummer!"

"Sounds like you're going all out," Santana said, trying to hold in her laughter, though Finn was oblivious to that.

"I am!" Finn responded, the grin on his face huge. "It's really-"

"Hi, guys," came Artie's voice from behind Finn. Peeking around the very tall boy, his eyes connected with Santana's, who glared, Brittany's, who bounced, and, finally, Quinn's, who shifted her gaze away from his. When she felt a tap on the back of her hand, she knew it was him, without having to look down. "You okay?"

"I'm…" Transferring her eyes to Sam, who was now joking around with Brittany, Quinn shrugged. "I don't know. I had hoped that things would work out with Sam but he doesn't seem ready to let go of…well, last month I admitted that I might still have feelings for Finn and Sam flipped out." She wasn't sure why she was sharing with Artie but, for whatever reason, it felt easy. And, anyway, he probably knew it all anyway.

As if he could read her thoughts, Artie bobbed his head up and down. "I heard about that. Sure you heard how pretty much the same thing happened with me but, you know, substituting Britt and Tina for Sam and Finn. I honestly don't think Brittany even cared that much but I think Santana convinced her to but…I'm not sure."

Quinn wouldn't put it past her sometimes friend but she didn't say that to Artie. "I guess you can understand what I'm going through."

"Yeah," he replied, lowering his voice. "I guess I can."

Reclining against the locker, that genuine smile started to creep across her face but it quickly dropped away. "And you won't tell anyone about me being in the office?"

"I won't…on one condition," he said, holding up his index finger.

Shocked, as she had expected him to automatically agree, she furrowed her brow. "Yes? What is that one condition?"

"It is," he went on, a mischievous expression on his face. "That you come with me tomorrow to look for a tux?"

The smile reappeared and this time did not vanish. "That I can definitely do, Artie."


	5. RentaTux

**_Part Five: Rent-a-Tux_**

Fifteen minutes past four, Quinn was starting to get annoyed. Artie was supposed to have been there by now and his tardiness was unacceptable in Quinn's opinion. More unacceptable was that every time she called, it went straight to voicemail. She had only left him one message, five minutes beforehand, saying, "Artie, where are you? We agreed on four o'clock and it is past four o'clock. It's fine if you're running late but I would have at least liked to have been alerted to that or something. Just…get here. Soon."

Finally, twenty minutes after the hour, he came rolling in, followed by Kurt and Finn.

"Quinn," Artie started upon seeing her. "Sorry we're late. Finn really wanted a churro…"

Narrowing her eyes, Quinn tapped three times on the face of her phone. "And you couldn't have called? Or answered your phone?"

"Oh," replied Artie, sheepishly. "I didn't think about calling and my phone died."

Finn and Kurt, the one bored by the conversation and the other lured away by the stylish men's clothes just beyond Quinn, wandered off, leaving Quinn and Artie by themselves. Taking the opportunity to speak to him alone, Quinn bent over at the waist, bringing her face to hover mere inches before his. "And you had to invite _them_?"

Shrugging, Artie told her, "They wanted to come and I didn't feel like trying to dissuade them."

"Perfect," Quinn hissed, straightening. Glancing over her shoulder, she spotted Finn holding up two identical tuxedos side by side while, on the other side of the store, Kurt was wrapping a feather boa around his neck. "Looks as if they won't be in the way anyway."

Half grinning, Artie wheeled towards the racks of tuxedos. "You just wanted me all to yourself. You can admit it."

At his brashness, Quinn's mouth fell open and hung there like that for several seconds. Artie's sometimes awkwardness Quinn was used to, and thought it was cute, but this confidence seemed to come out of nowhere, though Quinn had seen it in him from time to time in the past. Quickly regaining her composure, she strode after him. "Yes, fine. I wanted you all to myself." Winking at him, she walked past, hands brushing the clothes hanging on the racks as she did so.

She didn't turn around to see his expression but she heard him sputtering, "You d-do? I mean, you do. Of course, you do. What woman wouldn't want some time alone with the Artie-fresh?"

Spinning around, she burst out laughing. "The Artie-fresh?"

Removing a tuxedo with a silver-grey vest, Artie grimaced at her reaction. "What? I'm fresh. I'm the fresh master."

Still laughing, Quinn moved to his side to examine the tuxedo he had selected. "What does that even mean?"

Holding the tux up to her, indicating that she should take it, which she instantly did, he lifted one shoulder up before letting it sink again. "I don't know exactly. That I'm awesome?"

"Well, you are that," she murmured, pulling a black and white tuxedo out and laying it over the other, both now draped over her arm.

Blushing a little at her compliment, Artie grabbed a powder blue tux. "This?"

With a raise of one eyebrow, Quinn vetoed it, amused when Artie chortled a bit.

"I was clearly joking. But…" Pausing in front of a display of top hats and canes, Artie let his fingers skim over the brim of a particularly tall all black hat. "What do you think of this?"

Rolling her eyes in the most exaggerated manner possible, Quinn shook her head. "Only if you want to be super lame…and that's not okay for my date."

At her comment, his face fell. "Alright…" Swallowing, he placed the hat back, mouth turning down at the corners.

"Artie!" Coming over to stand by his side, she plucked the hat from the display and dropped it on his head. "_I_ was joking this time," she said, her tone light. "I actually think a top hat would be perfect because my dress is kind of vintage and, besides, you look super adorable in it."

"Adorable?" Settling the top hat in a less askew position, Artie faced her. "Yeah?"

Hearing the tinge of disappointment in his voice over her appraisal of his appearance in the hat, Quinn amended her statement. "Adorable in a super hot way." Letting her eyes rove from the top hat to his face, Quinn realized it was absolutely true. He looked adorably hot, something she never would have believed possible. Opening her mouth, she was about to say more, though what she did not exactly know, when Finn came bounding over.

"Guys!" he exclaimed. "I got matching tuxedos for Sam and me. What do you think?"

Quinn and Artie exchanged a look before leveling their respective gazes at Finn. "Um…" they muttered in unison.

"And I know his size so I can rent them and then surprise him!"

Pursing her lips, to keep from doubling over in laughter, Quinn breathed through her nose before finding the will to say, with a straight face, "Are you like in love with him or something?"

Scrunching his face to one side, Finn glared at Quinn. "Don't be ridiculous. He's my best friend." Then, in a huff, he marched off.

Once he was out of earshot, Artie whispered, "I totally think he is. Looks like you've got competition for Sam's affections."

Whispering back, almost conspiratorially, Quinn answered, "And it's stiff competition! Whatever shall I do?" After giggling together for some minutes, the two chose a few more tuxedos before Quinn ushered Artie toward a fitting room.

Eyes on the doors, Artie murmured, "Might be difficult to change completely..."

"Just try on the vests and jackets, to make sure you look good in them, which I'm sure you will. And I want to see!" Seating herself on the small bench just outside the fitting room, Quinn pulled a magazine from her purse and began leafing through it.

Snorting, Artie immediately denied her request. "I don't get to see your dress before the prom, you don't get to see me in my tux." Smirking at the way her eyes widened then narrowed, he hurried into the fitting room.

Once he was gone, Quinn focused on her magazine but had only started reading an article about Brad and Angelina's billion kids, or however many they had, when Kurt breezed up to her, silver glittery tuxedo reflecting off the overheard lights and practically blinding her. "Kurt! What the -"

"What do you think?" he interrupted. "Too much? I thought since Tina will be wearing black and silver, I would match her."

"So you're going to dress as a giant…sequin?"

Humph-ing, Kurt twirled away from her, angrily stalking back into the dressing room. "You know nothing of fashion," he called over his shoulder.

A retort was forming on her lips when a body appeared before her. Lifting her eyes, Quinn found herself stating at Rachel Berry's face.

"Quinn! What are you doing here?" the petite brunette asked.

"I'm here with Artie…and Kurt…and Finn," she responded, grumbling the names of the latter two. "Are you picking out a tuxedo for yourself?"

"Very funny," Rachel said, sniffing at the air, offended. "No, I am here with Noah. He does not know the first thing about selecting a tuxedo for prom. Though he seems to have made alright choices thus far. Perhaps he wanted -"

"I didn't ask for a speech, Rachel," Quinn cut the other girl off, holding up a hand. "You can go back to your shopping with Puck now."

"Oh, he's finished. We are about to go get something to eat and I was wondering if you wanted to join us."

The cheerful invitation would have been easy to pass up but watching Puck and Rachel interact might be interesting. However, Quinn knew her mom was expecting her for dinner so she said no.

Dejected, Rachel mumbled goodbye and meandered off to find "Noah."

When Artie was done assessing his appearance in each vest and jacket and had picked a tux out, the two of them went to the register. They had just completed the rent-a-tux process when Artie's phone bleeped.

"Uh…looks like Finn and Kurt decided to go home and abandon me here."

"Idiots," Quinn growled. "But you're not abandoned. I can give you a ride home." Frowning, she turned her head toward him. "Wait...I thought your phone died?"

"Oh...I guess it didn't." Eyes on the screen, he swallowed. "I wasn't lying. I thought it had. I was wrong...but it's dead now," he went on, showing the now black screen to her.

Putting a finger to her lips, Quinn stared at his face for a minute. "I guess I believe you and I guess I can still give you that ride home." Smirking, she headed towards the door, Artie right behind her.

Smiling up at her, Artie issued a thanks. "You're pretty cool, Quinn Fabray."

"Duh," she shot back, hand on hip. "And, by the way," she went on as they made their way to the exit. "You're pretty cool too, Artie Abrams."

Pushing the door open for her, Artie decided it was his turn to wink. "You know it."

Biting her bottom lip, due to both his actions, Quinn ran into the door instead of out of it. What is wrong with me, she thought. It's just Artie…why do I feel so flustered?

She didn't allow herself any further contemplation about it for the rest of the day, mostly forgetting by the time she laid her head on her pillow that night.

Though she did have dreams of Artie all night so maybe it didn't fly from her brain completely.


	6. Pocket Dial

_Author's Note: The following is based on actual events...okay, not really but my phone does stuff like this all the time...so annoying! And sometimes it's not even in my pocket! Enough of this author's note, please read and review! _

**_Part Six: Pocked Dial_**

The call was accidental, an occurrence that happened often with Artie's touch screen phone. He had just placed the phone in his pocket when, the next thing he knew, he heard a small tinny voice saying, "Hello? Artie?" Retrieving it, he put it to his ear.

"Quinn?" Slightly embarrassed at the mistake his phone had made, he closed his eyes and pressed his lips together.

"What's going on? Is something wrong?"

He couldn't help but smile at the concern in her voice. "No, I'm fine That was a…pocket dial."

"Pocket dial?" When she laughed, it sounded as if she was in the room with him. "My phone doesn't do that because it locks."

"So does mine!" he cried. "But somehow, it manages to pocket dial anyway. Progress and technology deserve an ugh sometimes..."

Still laughing, harder even, she didn't say anything in return.

Frowning, he thought of something he could change the topic to. "Uh…oh! You ever going to tell me what you were doing in the office the other day?"

Immediately, her laughter ceased. "I wasn't planning on it, no," she told him, her voice quiet. "It's not a big deal."

Arching an eyebrow, he debated on arguing with her before deciding against it. "Okay, whatever you say."

"That's right, whatever I say. You should remember that."

Rolling his eyes, he said, "Wipe that smirk off your face."

"How do you know I'm smirking?" she queried, trying and failing to sound one hundred percent sincere.

"Because," he replied, cradling the phone against this shoulder as he maneuvered himself onto his bed. "If_ I_ said that, _I'd_ be smirking."

"Well, just because you -" Her voice was cut off by loud blaring music. Holding the phone away from his ear, and wincing, he waited until the volume on the music was turned down. "Sorry," Quinn muttered. "I guess I had the volume pretty high when I was listening to that earlier."

"I'll say," he grumbled, feigning annoyance. "Almost made me go deaf."

"Oh stop, you're such a bad liar."

"Um, there's a difference between faking and lying." Settling his back against the wall, he grabbed his remote, flipping through the channels. "Was that…Tears for Fears?"

"It was. I love Tears for Fears. Do you?"

She sounded so excited he had to grin. "They're cool. I tend to like 80s things."

The sound of mattress springs alerted him to the fact that she was on her bed, possibly adjusting herself. "Me too. Music, movies, TV shows…"

Smiling, he decided to leave the channel on a Seinfeld repeat, while scanning his brain for his favorite 80s…whatever, when Quinn spoke up.

"Can I ask you something?"

The question made him wince. The last time someone had posed it to him had been about a month earlier, when Brittany had asked him about his feelings for Tina. The time before that, it had been issued out of the mouth of a glaring Tina, who wanted to know why he preferred a "stupid video game" to her. Then she had dumped him. Due to his past experiences with those five words, he responded warily. "Um, sure…"

She exhaled into her mouthpiece, her breath an impression of a whooshing wind on his end. "I don't get you and Brittany. Why are you two even dating? Or, I mean, not dating but kind of - you know what I mean."

For a moment, he couldn't even think then the implications of what she meant, what he thought she meant, hit him. Blinking and attempting to swallow the lump in his throat, he snapped, "Hard to imagine that a loser like me could end up with one of the most popular girls in school? Well, you know, we're actually…she likes me! And -"

"No, Artie!" she interrupted, clearly upset. "I don't think any of that! You and Brittany don't make sense to me because…you're such an amazing guy. Not that I'm saying Brittany's not but…I can't imagine that you can talk to her about stuff or that she'd ever get you on a deeper level or laugh at your jokes or…yeah, like that."

Amused by Quinn's spewing of word vomit, a quality he would have never guessed she possessed, he said, while holding back his laughter, "Oh, okay. Took that the wrong way. And…I don't know. I like Brittany. She likes me. And after what happened with Tina…I just never wanted that to happen again. I vowed that I would be the best boyfriend ever to Brittany and I think I've been…maybe not the best but at least I tried. I really wanted this to work. I admit that part of the reason I was looking forward to prom was because I would be going with her, proving to everyone that I could date and stay with someone like Brittany, someone popular and, you know, hot. No one would have expected that I would ever date her. But you're right, she doesn't understand a lot about me or things I talk about. I don't know if that matters though. We're just in high school, after all. I haven't deluded myself into thinking it'll be forever or anything like that." Once he was done, he bit his tongue, just in case it betrayed him and he blurted out more personal details about himself. He had not intended to go for that long and he could only wonder what was going through her mind.

It seemed forever until she said anything. "Well," she murmured at last. "All of that makes sense."

Shifting uncomfortably, he stared at the TV screen, not feeling any desire to laugh when the Soup Nazi kicked Elaine out of his restaurant. "Yeah. So…what about you and Sam? You two seem to be more superficial than anything else." Realizing that the comment was rather judgmental, he amended himself. "All I mean is that you two are -"

"I guess we are a little." He imagined her picking at the comforter on her bed, not knowing that that was exactly what she was doing. "It was in the back of my mind that him and I would make the picture perfect couple and going to prom was kind of about the prom King and Queen going together. But it's more than that, really. Sam is so devoted to me. I never had that with any other boyfriend. Finn liked Rachel, Puck liked...girls, any and all. With Sam, it's...it's nice. And…I've never shared that with anyone before."

Now he pictured her chewing on her bottom lip, which she really was doing, while feeling very insecure. "You just want to be happy."

"Yeah…"

"Me too."

A silence stretched out between them, and a new episode of Seinfeld began, before Quinn whispered, "But what if there's more out there and I'm missing out on it? I know we're just in high school but sometimes…I can't really explain it, Artie."

Resting his head against the top of the headboard, he stared at the ceiling. "I know what you mean. I think that sometimes too. Like it's good to be happy with Brittany but my…my whoever, the one I'll be more than just moderately happy with, is closer than I realize."

"I, um, yeah…you get it." Her voice was a low hum and he had to strain to hear her. "I'm getting kind of tired, Artie. I'll talk to you later?"

Wishing he knew her thoughts on the entire conversation, he shrugged, even though she couldn't see him do so. "Okay. Yeah. At school tomorrow."

"And…" There was the briefest of hesitations before she continued. "I'm really glad you pocket dialed me. Bye!"

She didn't even give him a chance to say a goodbye himself, hanging up first. Half grinning, Artie slid down into a laying position. If he could've responded, he would have told her he was really glad he had pocket dialed her too.


	7. All Over Town

_Author's Note: I thought it might be nice to see how all these internet paired dates are doing...so let's check in on them. Except for Sue/Shue. I dread writing Sue, to be perfectly honest. Anyway...other people represented. Read and review! THANKS!_

**_Part Seven: All Over Town_**

Saturday nights had always been Britt and San night but that had changed when Artie and Brittany had started their ridiculous, ridiculous in Santana's estimation, relationship. Now that the two had sort of broken up, due to Santana leading Brittany to falsely believe that Artie was still into his ex, Britt and San had their Saturday night back.

While flipping through the channels on her television, Brittany asked, "Why am I wearing black nail polish for prom if my dress is white?"

Rolling her eyes, Santana stretched out on her friend's bed. "I explained this to you, Britts. I'm wearing black so you're wearing black nail polish. You're wearing white so I'm wearing white nail polish."

Tilting her head, Brittany thought about it for a long time. At least ten minutes passed before Brittany said, "Okay." Finally settling on some cartoon, Brittany moved her body next to her friends, resting her head against Santana's shoulder. "Do you really think Artie might like Quinn? The other day I couldn't find my pink notebook and he was nice and helped me and I think he likes me. And I like him."

Though Santana had concocted the story about Artie liking Quinn just to further push Brittany away from her boyfriend, she had been watching Quinn and Artie over the past few days and had noticed something real between them. She wasn't sure if either Quinn or Artie was aware of whatever was happening between them but she knew there was definitely something there. But Santana's internal debate regarded whether or not she gave voice to what she had seen. On the one hand, anything that undermined Brittany and Artie's relationship was good. On the other hand, she was sick and tired of guys always falling for Quinn. Not that Quinn's whatever with Artie was like Quinn's previous romantic (if the Quinn/Artie interaction could even labeled that) connections. Santana recognized that it was more, that it was different. "Um…I don't know, Britts," she whispered at last, snuggling next to her best friend and hoping that even if Brittany and Artie resumed their relationship sometime in the future, Santana would still get cozy, lazy, stay inside Saturday nights.

* * *

Across town, at Mike's house, Kurt and Tina were discussing their prom plans, while Mike barely paid attention, his eyes on the video game in front of him.

"I was thinking we could just go to Breadstix," Kurt told Tina, resting a hand on his knee. "I know it's so very typical but who cares?"

Turning towards her boyfriend, Tina asked, "What do you think, Mike? Would your _date_ be okay with that?" When he didn't respond to her obvious seething, she smacked him on the arm. "Mike! Breadstix?"

Pressing pause, he blinked then faced her. "Uhhh…what? No thanks, I'm not hungry."

Sensing that Tina was growing angrier and might possibly do more than simply smack Mike soon, Kurt explained, "We're thinking about the four of us, including Penelope, going to Breadstix for dinner before the prom. What do you think?"

"Ooooh," Mike exhaled, drawing out the os. "I already made reservations at Breadstix." At Tina's glare and Kurt's "Seriously?" look, Mike quickly added, "For the four of us!" Swallowing, he glanced Tina's way, noting her smile which meant she believed him. "Um…be right back!"

Grinning, Tina focused back on Kurt. "He's so thoughtful."

"Yeah," Kurt murmured. "So thoughtful…"

* * *

Handing Puck four Polaroid's of herself in different dresses, Rachel questioned his opinion on each one. "I know that prom is in two weeks and I should have purchased my dress before now but I simply could not decide! These are all on hold at various stores. Perhaps you can help me select one, Noah?"

Eyes skimming over the options, Puck shrugged. "Not really an expert at this kind of stuff, Berry. This really why you invited me over here?" Raising both eyebrows, he half grinned at her, amused when she blushed.

"Of course it is! Why else would I have asked you over? This is a pertinent decision that must be made immediately!" Simultaneously stamping her foot and jabbing her finger against his chest only further entertained him.

Grabbing her finger, he pulled on it gently, until she was leaning against him. "Go with the blue. You look hot in blue."

Cheeks even more flushed, Rachel touched her fingers to his shoulders. "I do?"

Running his thumb over her bottom lip, he nodded.

Taking a breath, she pulled back, away from him. "Then I will choose blue. Finn likes me in blue too."

Disgruntled, Puck stood. "Good for him," he growled, stomping out of the room.

Crossing her arms over her chest, Rachel helplessly watched him leave.

* * *

In all honesty, it was pretty funny but Sam didn't feel like laughing. "It's awesome, right?" Finn asked, doing another twirl as he modeled the tuxedo for his friend. "Here's yours."

Staring at the matching tux, Sam grimaced. "Uh…thanks. But I already got a tux."

Finn's mouth dropped open. "What? Why didn't you tell me that, man? I wouldn't have gotten you one if I had known."

The other boy appeared legitimately distressed. Sighing, Sam examined the tux that Finn had rented for him more closely. "This _is_ pretty awesome…much more awesome than the one I got. I guess I can wear it."

Face splitting in a grin, Finn actually clapped once, then cleared his throat, looking embarrassed. "Uh…cool. Dude, you excited for the prom?"

Sprawling out on his bed, while Finn leaned against the wall, apparently not planning on changing back to his street clothes just yet, Sam shrugged. "I don't know what to think about Quinn and Artie going together. They seem to really be hitting it off."

Shoving his hands in his pocket, Finn said, "I don't think you have anything to worry about. It's just Artie."

Reclining so that his head was against the headboard, Sam replied, "Yeah but…Artie's got game. Plus, Quinn always laughs at his jokes and he laughs at hers and I see them together and…I don't know." Closing his eyes, Sam attempted to forcefully rid his mind of the thoughts invading it. "I really like Quinn." The pat on his shin startled him and he jumped, hitting his head. "Ow."

"Sorry!" Finn exclaimed, withdrawing his hand. "I was trying to…comfort you."

Expressionless, Sam just muttered, "Thanks, Finn."

* * *

Even though Quinn knew Mercedes was home, as the light in the upper right hand window was on, she couldn't bring herself to knock on the door. Biting her lip, ignoring the guilt that was washing over her, she spun on her heel and marched back to her car, where she sat for several long seconds. Deliberation on the matter did not help and she ended up starting the car and driving away. Once at home, she almost started to cry. Why was it so difficult to resume her one time friendship with Mercedes? Maybe because she had discarded the girl once Junior year had begun for her former popularity, which she hadn't even really regained anyway. The buzzing of her phone distracted her from thoughts of how Mercedes had been there when she needed a friend and how Quinn was certainly not repaying the favor now, though calling it a favor seemed wrong somehow. Looking down, she saw that she had received an incoming text.

"Hey!"

Smiling a little, she typed in a response to Artie's text. "Hey."

"What you up to? Cause I'm super hungry and I thought you might be too?"

"I am actually. That'd be nice." Before hitting send, she thought of something. "And maybe we can invite other people. Like Mercedes? I know she hangs out with Kurt a lot but I heard him tell her he was busy tonight…"

He didn't reply for over five minutes. "Uh yeah, sure. I'll invite her and meet you both at that one diner on second street?"

Starting her car up again, Quinn returned with, "Sounds perfect. And I love that place."

* * *

In his room, Artie slumped in his chair, responding, "Awesome, see you soon," before texting Mercedes. Though he had asked Quinn to go out to dinner as a spur of the moment thing, he hadn't meant for anyone else to be included, which actually didn't make sense, did it? Or did he want to spend time alone with Quinn? If he did, could he be blamed? He really enjoyed her company. And…he really liked her. As a friend.

Pushing himself towards his door, he whispered, "As a friend…only as a friend."


	8. Burning Questions

_Author's Note: The long awaited, I'm sure, part eight of this story. How many more things can happen before the prom actually takes place? No, tell me. I mean, suggest ideas...that's what I mean. Leave those ideas in a review...that you leave me...when you also tell me what you like and don't like. Thanks!_

**_Part Eight: Burning Questions_**

Though he told himself it was happenstance, meeting her like that, the truth was he was he had been waiting for her. He knew she had fifth period English in room 103 and when his fifth period had been let out early, he had wheeled himself in that direction, telling himself he needed to go to the library. But the library had been forgotten when he meandered a bit too long at the drinking fountain, eyes furtively glancing in the direction of the door she should be exiting from soon.

And then the bell rang, the signal for students to rush out into the hallway, pushing anything and anyone out of their ways as they made the mad dash to lockers, bathrooms, etc before the next period. Artie happened to be one such person in their paths and he soon found himself rolling down the hall. He hadn't gotten far when he came to an abrupt stop.

"Where you going, tiger?" her voice fairly hummed in his ear.

Twisting himself around, he looked up at her, blinking a couple of times when it occurred to him that their faces were very close and it wouldn't take much effort to lean forward and - nothing. Clearing his throat and adjusting his glasses, he squeaked, "Hey, Qu-quinn. Going my way?"

Settling a hand on her hip, she straightened to a standing position while quirking an eyebrow. "We do have sixth period in the same hall so why not?"

Any bravado he had seemed to fail him in that moment, so he dumbly nodded and followed behind her. Realizing he wasn't next to her, she paused, not walking until he was beside her again. "So…a little under two weeks until the dance now. I'm so excited."

He eyed her from his periphery, noting the not quite smile on her face. "Really?"

Sighing, she seemed to hesitate before answering him. "I am, really. There's just…something I can't talk about that's not going according to plan."

As they turned down the hall where their last period classes were located, he asked, tentatively, "Maybe I could help you? I can be helpful sometimes and-"

"I know you could help me," she interrupted. "But I don't need help."

Reaching out, he circled his fingers around her wrist. "Don't need or don't want it, Quinn?" Moving his fingers, he let his thumb rest against the inside of her wrist and felt her pulse pounding.

Seemingly entranced, she leveled her gaze at him, parting her lips ever so slightly. "I…don't want it. I don't want to…" Struggling with words, she gulped, before yanking her wrist away from him.

"You realized that you could lean on us last year…" he trailed off, not sure exactly where he was going with the thought. "You and Mercedes-"

"That was last year!" she snapped. "I'm not that girl anymore!"

"Yes, you are," he said, simply.

At a loss for words, she stared at him, then slumped her shoulders. "I guess…maybe, I am. I didn't want to be but…" Biting her bottom lip, she shrugged. "I should get to class…" With a wave, she left him, entering her classroom.

It was only until she had disappeared from sight that he realized that she hadn't told him what she needed help with.

* * *

After class, Brittany was standing by his locker. In times past, seeing her there would have caused him great elation. It should have now, especially after the Tina debacle and all the groveling he had done to try to get Brittany to listen to him. He cringed as he recalled the many messages he had left on her phone, wondering how he could have been so pathetic, wondering if Santana had listened to each one and made fun of him. He was sure she had.

Now it seemed she might be ready to listen but he didn't feel excited about it. He wasn't sure what he felt, exactly.

"Hey…Britt." Opening his locker, he emptied the contents of his backpack into it.

"Artie," she whispered. "I don't want to lose you."

His whole body froze a little. "Oh, um…what?"

"I really like you," she went on, playing with the bottom of her cheerleading skirt. "Like my bunny likes the stuffed bunny I bought for it." Bending at the waist, she added, "It doesn't know it's not real."

Ignoring her comments about the bunny, the sentiment was on his lips but it never fell from them. Did he really like her like that anymore? "Can we talk later, Brittany?"

Eyes wide, Brittany shook her head no. "I want to know, Artie. Do you l-like Quinn?"

He suspected that Santana was the one who had placed that idea in Brittany's head but, unlike the Tina rumor, he wasn't sure if the answer to this question was no…or yes.

* * *

Almost everyone was already in the choir room when Quinn arrived there for glee club. As she took her usual seat next to where Artie normally placed himself, she heard Brittany and Santana talking. Removing a nail file from her bag, she began shaping her nails, trying not to eavesdrop but still hearing most of the conversation.

"And I asked him and he rolled away!" Brittany was saying to Santana in a hushed and frantic tone.

"Rolled away where?" Though Santana was attempting to sound nonchalant, Quinn could tell the other girl cared more than she was letting on.

"Around the corner!"

Quinn pictured Santana rolling her eyes with the next response. "Well, why didn't you, I don't know, go after him?"

"I counted to five…" Turning her head just a little gave Quinn a view of Brittany slouching in her seat. "Because I thought maybe we were playing hide and go seek but he was gone when I was done counting…"

Curiosity arrested Quinn and that curiosity only grew when Artie didn't show up to glee club. Part of her was worried but she knew, deep down, he was fine and probably only avoiding Brittany. Another part was largely disappointed. She liked sitting next to him, exchanging smiles with him every once in awhile, quietly laughing together at Rachel's many attempts to wrest control of glee club from Mr. Schuester. Somehow, the club meeting just didn't seem the same without him and Quinn found herself barely paying attention.

As soon as Mr. Schuester dismissed the club for the day, Finn bounded over, planting himself in the empty seat next to Quinn. "Hey, Quinn. How're things?"

Narrowing her eyes, she regarded him silently for a few minutes, not sure his angle. "Things are fine. How are things with you?"

"Good and how are things with Sam?" he asked, his words almost blending together.

She blinked then responded slowly, "Things with Sam are…I'm not sure. Why do you ask? Did Sam ask you to?"

His mouth formed a perfect 'o' before he started flailing under her scrutiny. "No…okay, maybe. ALRIGHT, YES! He asked me to get him some wings and ask you about your relationship. I didn't know what kind of wings so I got frozen chicken wings. I hope that's okay. And I'm asking you about you and him and Artie -"

"Artie?" Quinn cut him off, not explaining that Sam didn't want wings but a wing_man_. "What does Artie have to do with anything?"

"Sam thinks you might like him," Finn stated, shifting in his chair.

Upon hearing that, Quinn tightly gripped the strap on her bag. "Well, that…that's ridiculous!"

"That what I said," Finn replied, with a snort. "He's just Artie."

Standing angrily, Quinn tossed her bag over her shoulder and faced him. "Artie is the most amazing guy in this school," she said, her voice low. "It's not ridiculous to assume I, or anyone, might like him. In fact, it's probably more ridiculous that there aren't more girls like in love with him. But it's ridiculous to think that I would…that we would…I mean, we're just friends!" When Finn just looked at her, obviously confused, she decided to march out, continuing her trek until she was outside of the school building. Taking a deep breath, she put a steadying hand on the concrete wall of the building. Her thoughts were all over the place and she didn't know what to think. Her like Artie? As more than a friend? Sure, he was nice and funny and hot but that didn't mean she liked him as more than friend. Maybe she enjoyed his company more than she enjoyed anyone else's and missed him when he wasn't around but those were not indicators of romantic type feelings, right?

Or…were they?


	9. TGIF

_Author's Note: Two updates in two days? Crazy! lol I'm on a roll? Or something...anyway, read and review please! :)_

**_Part Nine: TGIF_**

Friday night Sam found himself at Finn's, watching as the other boy tried to impress him by playing a particularly hard level of Halo. Trying not to roll his eyes at the way Finn kept glancing over at him, Sam turned his own gaze to his cell phone. Every time, he expected a text from Quinn but every time he was disappointed. He had sent her a message reading "Can we talk?" earlier in the evening and she had yet to respond. He kept telling himself that she was probably just busy but he still felt uncomfortable with her lack of a reply. Shifting, he lifted his eyes to Finn, who was staring at him.

"You okay, man?" Finn asked, his voice filled with concern.

Sam shrugged. "I don't know. I kind of feel like things with Quinn are coming to an end and that's not what I wanted. Thing is, I can't blame it on myself. I guess partially, if I hadn't gone off the handle about her feelings for you. But this whole paired by survey thing still would've happened and…Quinn and Artie…you see them together, right? You see something there?"

Pausing his game, Finn turned and flopped on the bed, kicking his feet in the air. "I'm not sure but Quinn got all…upset when I mentioned her liking Artie. She said he was…I can't remember but good things."

Grinding his teeth a little, Sam sat up straighter. "So what do I do? Nothing? Or fight back?"

Placing his chin in his hand, Finn said, "Depends on how much you like her, I guess."

Nodding, Sam looked at his phone once more before sending another text, this time to a different person.

* * *

Brittany looked as if she was about to cry as she sat on Santana's black comforter, clenching and unclenching her hands into fists. "I called him and he said he had plans tonight."

From her place in front of her extensive DVD collection, most of which were action or comedy movies, Santana murmured, "Oh, so that's why you're here…"

"What?" The back of her heel hit the bottom part of the frame of the bed, making a repetitive thud, thud, thud. "What if he's with Quinn right now? What if he loves her? I…I love him!" the blonde cried, real tears springing to her eyes.

Spinning around, Steven Segal movie in hand, Santana narrowed her eyes. "You love him? Like you thought you loved Puck last year? Ricky, Josh, Jonathan, that girl whose name you never knew in your P.E. class, me, a slew of others? You always say you love people, Brittany! Does it really mean anything?" Walking to her TV/DVD player, she put the movie in then sat down, hard, on the bed. "You're all upset now but in a week or two you will completely forget."

Brittany was quiet for awhile before whispering, "But Artie's different. He doesn't treat me like I'm stupid. Even when I don't understand what he's talking about which is most of the time. I think he gets…um…flustrated but he never says that."

Taking a breath, a sharp one that almost seemed to cut into her diaphragm, Santana kept her eyes focused on the TV screen in front of her, muttering too quietly to hear, "That's what you always say." Out loud she said, "Frustrated," the tone of her voice even. "And if people treat you like you're stupid, that's their problem. You're not. But there's a difference between explaining things to you and treating you like you're stupid. You know that, right?" She wasn't sure whether or not Brittany had planned on saying anything in return because before Brittany could, or not, Santana's phone buzzed. Furrowing her brow, her eyes scanned the incoming text. "Hmmm…" she hummed, an almost evil smile forming on her lips. "Looks like we're going to have to continue this movie later."

* * *

It hadn't been Quinn's plan to invite herself over to Artie's house on Friday but that's what happened. Mr. Schuester had not yet arrived to the Friday afternoon glee club meeting and the teens were all sitting around, chatting or being uncharacteristically quiet, in Quinn and Artie's cases, when Quinn had blurted out, "We should hang out. I could come over to your place tonight. Um, unless you have plans or whatever." She didn't like how vulnerable she felt as she waited for him to agree or tell her he couldn't.

"Uh…yeah, that sounds like fun." The boy reached up as if to adjust his glasses then dropped his hand to his side. "I don't have a lot of fun things to do other than video games though…"

"I could bring over some movies and pizza or something," Quinn offered, quickly. "How does that sound?"

"Good, good," Artie said, bobbing his head up and down.

A few hours later, she was standing on his porch, balancing two pizza boxes, three DVDs and a liter of Coke. She was trying to figure out how to ring the doorbell when Artie's mom, a friendly looking woman with light brown hair and eyes the same shade of blue as Artie's, opened the door.

"You must be Quinn," she said, warmly. "I'm Lauren. Here let me help you with that." Leaning forward, she grabbed the pizzas and DVDs, leaving Quinn with only the bottle of soda.

"Thanks." Feeling somewhat unsure of herself, Quinn stepped into the Abrams' home, twisting her head to the left and the right, taking in the family photos on the walls and the brightly colored rugs below her feet. She followed Lauren into the kitchen, where Artie was sitting with his dad.

Upon spotting them, Mr. Abrams stood up and took the boxes from his wife, placing them on the counter. "Hello, Quinn, I'm Jim." Taking his extended hand, she shook it, then looked at Artie out of the corner of her eye.

"What movies did you bring?" he asked, rolling towards her. "Not that it matters," he added when his mother sent him a warning look. "I'm cool with anything."

"Well, I wasn't sure what you might like so I just brought my favorites. The Princess Bride, The Goonies and The Breakfast Club," she told him, counting the movie options off on her fingers. "I figure you have movies too so we don't have to watch one I brought."

"Are you kidding?" Artie exclaimed. "The Princess Bride is a classic and I hardly ever get to watch it since we don't own it. We are so watching that!"

Quinn laughed, plucking that particular DVD off the top of the pile. "And I got pepperoni pizza and chicken garlic pizza. I hope you eat meat…"

"I'm not Rachel," he quipped, eagerly taking a plate from the counter. "I'm starved. Let's put the movie in and get our eating on."

Laughing again, Quinn put food on her own plate, grabbed two glasses and the soda, along with the DVD, which she tucked under her arm, and padded along behind Artie to the living room. "Are your parents okay with us hijacking the living room?"

"Yup, they're fine with it." After taking a big bit of pizza, Artie continued, his mouth full of pepperoni, crust and cheese, "They said, hijack the living room, yo."

Grabbing a pillow, she hit him with it. "Hasn't anyone ever told you not to talk with food in your mouth…yo?"

Wresting the pillow from her, he threw it at her head. "No, no one has ever told me that before."

"I'm sure they haven't." She was reaching for the pillow, which she intended to use as a projectile like he had, when his fingers danced across her midsection. "Nooo!" she squealed, relinquishing her hold on the pillow to cross her arms defensively over her stomach. "I'm so ticklish!"

"Interesting," Artie mused before moving his fingers to her sides and skimming them up.

For a couple of minutes she squirmed and giggled as he tortured her until she freed herself, leaping to her feet and pointing a finger at him. "This is not fun!" she said, breathlessly, a huge smile on her face. "Stop it!"

"Fine," Artie relented. "But only because I like my pizza hot and I want to watch the movie. Put it in!" Under her withering glare, he amended himself, adding a, "please."

A few minutes later, they were cozy on the couch, eating their food and watching the movie, Quinn completely oblivious to the many texts from Sam, since her phone was in her purse which she had left in the kitchen, and Artie completely aware of how Quinn's fingers were lightly brushing up against his own as their hands rested on the small portion of cushion between them.

* * *

In a diner not far away, Brittany, Santana, Sam and Finn were all sharing a table, sipping thick ice cream shakes through bendy straws.

"You want to do something about Quinn and Artie," Santana was saying. "Then you're going to have to listen to me…"


	10. This is the Plan

_Author's Note: Longest chapter yet! I don't know how that happened...but it did! Reviews, leave them...please. Tell me if you think this is progressing along at a non-rushed pace...and other things. I love/need feedback! _

**_Part Ten: This is the Plan_**

"_This_ is your plan?" Sam asked incredulously, after Santana had explained everything to him. "I don't see how this is going to work at all."

Crossing her arms over her chest, she glared at him. "Trust me. I know what I'm doing." A hint of a smile played across her lips and Sam swore he could see a malicious glint in her brown eyes.

"Santana's the smartest person I know," Brittany stated, placing a hand on Santana's shoulder. "She'll help to sorbet Quinn and Artie."

For a second, Santana's haughty expression seemed to falter then she lifted her chin high, telling Brittany the word was sabotage.

Still skeptical, Sam raised an eyebrow. "I guess we'll just see if this works," he muttered, eyes on the house where Quinn was scheduled to arrive at any moment.

"I guess we will," Santana snipped back, leaning against her car.

"This is like a movie!" Brittany said cheerfully, clapping her hands.

Both Sam and Santana rolled their eyes at her exuberance. A moment later, Quinn was pulling up the curb across the street. They all watched as she exited her vehicle and marched up the path to the door.

"They'll see they're not meant to be," Santana said quietly, though inwardly she was thinking the exact opposite would happen. Santana had been intent on undermining Brittany and Artie as much as she could and attempting to stop Quinn and Artie's slow gravitation toward one another was not beneficial for her in that regard. Not that she felt, in all honesty, that any plan could bring that gravitation to a halt. Fate, progress and technology were all conspiring together to make sure that didn't happen, it seemed.

* * *

Quinn knocked three times on the door, then pulled on her light pink skirt, eyes on the note she had found in her locker earlier that afternoon.

_"Meet me at my house for dinner, Artie."_

Though the writing didn't look exactly like his, as the words were more loopy than Artie's usually were, Quinn had decided to come. She couldn't figure out why anyone else would have put the note in her locker anyway. When Artie opened the door, her face lit up. "Hey, Artie," she greeted him sweetly, noting the tuft of hair that was sticking out by his ear. She had an urge to reach forward and smooth it down but it was pretty adorable so she hesitated.

"…and so there's food in the kitchen," Artie had just finished saying.

Realizing that thinking about Artie's stray hair had made her grow distracted, Quinn blushed a little. "What did you say?"

Gesturing for her to come inside, which she did, Artie repeated himself, "Santana came over about a half an hour ago and said you were on your way over. I started to panic but she said she had it all covered and had food and everything. So there's food in the kitchen."

Following along behind Artie, Quinn glanced at the note that had been deposited in her locker. That's why the writing hadn't looked like Artie's. It was Santana-pretending-to-be-Artie script. Frowning, Quinn's mind went over possible reasons Santana could have had to set her and Artie up and couldn't come up with anything. She was about to ask Artie if he had any ideas when they entered his kitchen and she forgot, for a moment, that this had been arranged by Santana. There were two candles on the set table and a shiny chair cover on Quinn's chair. The lights were dimmed and the whole atmosphere seemed romantic. "Artie…"

He quickly flipped on the lights. "It was Santana's idea to turn the lights low. I brought out the candles and she said-"

"It looks nice," Quinn interrupted, feeling awkward all of a sudden. She started toward her chair but Artie got there first, pulling it out for her. "Thanks," she murmured, sitting down.

Artie went to the other side of the table then let his eyes wander over the plates of food Santana had brought over. "Smells good."

"Well," Quinn said, removing the covers off the plates. "I'm guessing Santana's mom made all of this and she has like the magic touch or something. Everything she makes is amazing."

"I love tacos!" Artie exclaimed, grabbing a taco from one of the plates. "Oh and amazing, huh?" His cheeks turned a light shade of crimson.

"I like that you get so excited over food," she laughed, selecting a taco for herself.

Grinning, Artie took a huge bite from his taco. "This_ is _amazing!" he exclaimed, dabbing the corners of his mouth with a napkin.

After going back and forth about how the spread of food was amazing, they began an actual conversation which eventually turned to "Most embarrassing moment ever."

Biting her lip, Quinn got lost in thought before finally revealing her most embarrassing moment. "First of all, never tell anyone." When he nodded his head, telling her he wouldn't, she continued. "Though I'm sure some people remember… It was in fifth grade and I was on a field trip to the zoo with my class. I had to wear some of my mom's clothes because I didn't have any. Unfortunately, they were slightly too big so, when were by the lion cages my skirt fell down. Then…my underwear almost did too. I wanted the ground to like swallow me whole."

For a moment, Artie was quiet, then he asked, "Why didn't you have anything to wear of your own?"

Picking at the placemat under her plate, Quinn gave a half hearted shrug. "My mom was always forgetting to wash my clothes. Usually my aunt let me borrow my cousin's clothes but that was one of the only mornings during my elementary school years that my aunt didn't give me a ride to school. Or, you know, I could borrow my sister's but she never would let me and they would have been too big anyway. After that, I insisted on doing my own laundry. I didn't want anything like that to happen ever again."

Artie blinked and nodded, while trying to process her story. "I wouldn't think so."

Leaning forward, her hair almost touching the remainder of food on her plate, she said, "Your turn."

Looking uncomfortable, Artie shifted in his chair. "Um, okay. It was the first day I returned to school after the accident. People were acting…weird around me. But I didn't want to be different, at all. So I tried to play four square with some other kids and…and fell out of my chair." He cast his eyes down to the table. "And everyone laughed."

An expression of sadness and anger arrested her features. "Stupid kids."

Not lifting his eyes, Artie said, "I guess. Finally, someone came to help me up. It was Rachel, actually. She yelled at the other kids. I've never forgotten that. She may be annoying sometimes but that was one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me."

Smiling, Quinn nodded. "I remember hearing about that. I was out sick that week but when I got back to school, I think Santana told me about it."

"Oh, what did you say?" he asked, curiously, raising his eyes a little.

Quinn played with the napkin in her lap, clearing her throat. "Um, well, actually, I told Santana she shouldn't have laughed and should've helped you…"

Though he didn't understand Quinn's reaction to the admission, beyond her not wanting to brag about how she would have done the right thing, Artie couldn't help but grin. "Is that right?"

"Yes," she returned, smiling back at him. "That's right."

After cleaning up the kitchen together, they went to Artie's room where, nestled under a blanket, they watched The Other Guys, which Artie owned on DVD. In fact, he owned every Will Ferrell movie ever made, including the Best of Will Ferrell on Saturday Night Live DVD. Instead of actually watching, though, they talked about anything and everything, from his accident to the birth of Beth, from how Arrested Development and Veronica Mars had been canceled prematurely to how the best current TV shows were all on NBC's Thursday night line up. They didn't notice the movie had ended, and had been over for some time, until Quinn glanced at her cell phone.

"Um, it's 1:30 in the morning…the movie must have been over for hours."

"Oh…" Artie trailed off. "Yeah, I guess you should be getting home."

Stretching, Quinn slid to the edge of the bed. "Where are your parents?"

"Um…" Reaching his arms above his head in a stretch that copied hers, Artie took his time to answer. "My dad had this conference thing. They usually last for the whole weekend but this time it's on Tuesday and just one night. He convinced my mom to go for the first time, ever. She was all nervous about leaving me alone but I'm fine…"

Pausing in the middle of placing her flats back on her feet, Quinn turned toward him. "I feel pretty tired. Maybe I should spend the night." At the shocked expression on his face, she quickly added, "On the couch or in the guest bedroom if you have one. I'm not sure I feel up to driving home."

"Right…uh, right. There's a guest bedroom down the hall. To the left. I can show you."

"That's okay," she responding, standing. "I can find it. Thanks for tonight, by the way," she said as she made her way to the door. "I had a really good time."

"Yeah," he muttered. "Me too."

At the door, she smiled. "Goodnight, Artie."

She really was beautiful, he thought. Probably the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, if he was completely truthful with himself. "Goodnight, Quinn."

* * *

In a car across the street, Brittany was snoring softly in the back seat while Sam and Santana argued over what music to listen to.

"No," Sam was saying. "I think we should - do you realize it's 1:30?"

Yawning, Santana nodded. "I did realize that."

"Where's Quinn?" Sam asked anxiously, eyes on the house across the street. "They've been in there all evening! This was supposed to make them realize they're not right for each other not…make them fall in love!"

"Who said they're falling in love?" Closing her eyes, Santana felt herself start to drift into the world of dreams. "But even if they are, can we really stop it? Can we stop fate? Can we stop something that's impossible to deny?"

By this point, Sam believed that Santana wasn't completely aware of what she was saying but, on some level, he understood the point she was making and also understood that, if that were the case, there was nothing they could do to stop it. Nothing he could do.

Swallowing hard, and pushing Quinn and Artie from his thoughts, he rested his head against the passenger seat, wishing he could fully extend his legs, and started to doze himself.

When the three of them woke the next morning at 7:00 am, stiff and grumpy, Quinn's car was gone.


	11. Second Chance on Friendship

_Author's Note: It's funny that I have featured the Mer/Q friendship in the story considering I'm not a fan of that friendship...I am a fan of continuity and characters having friendships though. I'm sure you, my readers, really wanted to know that...positive, in fact. :D As always, please read and review!_

**_Part Eleven: Second Chance on Friendship_**

The next day, Sam, Santana and Brittany, bodies aching from sleeping in the tiny car all night, walked into the high school as Santana informed Brittany of the sleepover that had taken place in Artie's house. "Quinn spent the night?" the blonde echoed her friend. When neither Sam nor Santana immediately responded, Brittany grabbed Santana's arm, bringing the other girl to a stop. "Did they…do it?"

"I don't know what happened, Britts," Santana replied. "But Quinn's car was there at 1:30 am and was gone this morning at 7:00 am. I doubt anything happened though. We're talking about Q. I made a mistake and am now withholding forever Q." Smirking a bit, Santana began to saunter down the halls, Brittany fast at her heels and Sam marching much more slowly behind. "Though I can totally use this to hold over Quinn's head. Probably nothing happened but rumors can fly."

"What?" asked the trailing along Sam. "You're going to spread rumors about Quinn and Artie?"

"Um…" Pausing, Santana glanced at Sam, preparing to deny and lie, when Rachel appeared out of nowhere.

"I have some song ideas for national's to present to the three of you." Upon noticing their crumpled clothes, she wrinkled her nose. "You appear as if you slept in a very cramped space and didn't bother to change your clothes before coming to school."

"Just give us the stupid song list so I can eliminate all the lame ones," Santana snapped, reaching for the sheets of paper nestled in Rachel's arms.

Holding them back, Rachel glared up at the taller girl. "Please read them with an open mind, Santana. This is of the utmost importance! I believe we can win this year and -"

"Shut up, midget," Santana interrupted. "Your yapping gets old and annoying."

"Is yapping like yawning and napping at the same time?" Brittany asked, leaning against her locker. "I yapping all the time!"

Before Santana could explain, Finn bounded over, putting an arm around Sam's shoulders. "Dude!" His eyes darted from face to face until they landed on Rachel's. "Oh, Rachel." Glancing at the ground, he dropped his arm from around Sam's shoulders.

For a second, an awkward silence hung in the air, making Sam and Santana very uncomfortable while Brittany, oblivious, mouthed the word "yapping" repeatedly. Finally, Santana snatched two of the song lists, handing one to Sam, and the three left, very much unnoticed.

"Hey, Rachel…I…"

"Finn, I must stop you." Holding up a hand, Rachel grabbed a song list and handed it to him. "Here, peruse this at your leisure. And, also, I think it's important for you to be aware of my growing feelings for Noah. I have attempted, in vain, to pretend as if they do not exist but it is all for naught. I plan on speaking with him about my feelings this coming Saturday, at prom. I do not know if he shall return my feelings or not but I thought it important that you know what is going in my heart. I am sorry, Finn." Without waiting for a response, Rachel bolted down the hall, dropping a few of the song lists on accident as she hurried off.

Sam, who hadn't entirely departed, retrieved them, then headed to Finn's side. "Hey, man, what was that-"

The other boy cut him off when he wrapped both arms around him. Grimacing, Sam almost pushed Finn away but, then, decided to hug him in return, softly patting Finn's back.

* * *

Yawning, Quinn walked into the music room, five minutes before glee club started, planting herself in a chair. She was just closing her eyes, intending to take a brief rest, when someone kicked the bottom of her shoe. Opening one eye, she found herself under the gazes of both Santana and Brittany.

"What's up, Q? How's Artie?" Santana asked, her tone almost pleasant.

Remembering that Santana had been behind last night's "date," Quinn raised an eyebrow. "He's fine, I guess."

"Were you yapping because you stayed at Artie's and did it with him?" Brittany questioned, blue eyes wider than Quinn had ever seen them before.

An evil grin flashed itself on Santana's face. "Yeah, Q. Is that what's going on here? You tired from a busy night?"

Angry at their accusations, Quinn sat up straighter, eyes drawn to Mercedes' hunched over figure creeping into the room. The girl had obviously heard every word that Brittany and Santana had uttered. "I have no idea why you'd think that unless you were spying on me. In your stupid little white Honda across the street. Yeah, I saw your car when I left this morning. And, no, Brittany," she went on, directing the remainder of her defense toward Brittany. "We did not do it. I slept in the guest room."

Appearing relieved, Brittany bounced up to a seat in the top row.

"And how can that be proven?" Not waiting for Quinn's answer, Santana climbed to a seat beside her friend.

Grinding her teeth, Quinn barely noticed when Artie rolled to his spot next to her.

"Hey."

Turning her head, she forced herself to smile at him. "Hey."

Frowning, he reached out, impulsively, and took her hand in his. Both heard the strangled cry emanating from Brittany at the contact but ignored her. "You okay?"

Interlocking her fingers with his, enjoying the warmth of his palm against hers, Quinn shrugged. "Really tired."

Nodding in understanding, Artie muttered, "Me too."

Their conversation came to a halt as the rest of the glee club members began to trickle in. Despite this, Quinn and Artie did not cease their hand holding. In fact, they continued to do so until the meeting ended and everyone left the room.

* * *

After cheerleading practice, Quinn was more than a little surprised to find Mercedes standing by her locker. "Um, hey, Mercedes…" Opening her locker, she removed her chemistry text book, putting it into her gym bag.

"Hey, Quinn." Hesitating, Mercedes shoved her hands into the pockets of her jacket and rocked on her heels. Though the two had once been good friends, their friendship had mostly faded. When they had both gone out to dinner with Artie recently, neither had had much to say and the task of conversation had fallen on Artie's shoulders. He had taken the opportunity to awkwardly ramble on about anything that popped into his head, which Quinn had found extremely endearing and adorable. But the night hadn't proved successful in reviving the friendship between the two girls, however very cute Artie had been.

"Is everything…what's…are you…" Not sure what to ask, Quinn bit her bottom lip. "Yeah."

"I just wanted to see if you might want to talk…I heard what Santana and Brittany said to you and…well, I'm here. I've always been here."

The words stung more than Quinn thought they could. Winching, she shut her locker, the metal sound reverberating down the hall. "Thanks, Mercedes, but what they said earlier doesn't bother me. Let them spread rumors about me, I don't care." Spinning on her heel, she headed toward the doors the led outside, Mercedes beside her.

"If you say so," Mercedes responded, clasping her hands in front of her as she walked.

"I do," Quinn assured her. "Nothing even happened with Artie. Nothing like what they were suggesting, at least."

Tilting her head, Mercedes gave Quinn a squinty eyed look. "What do you mean?"

In a rush, Quinn recalled how easy it was to open up to Mercedes as words fell from her lips. "Nothing physical happened but…we connect. He's…not like anyone."

Both eyebrows shot up at Quinn's comment. "Sounds as if you like him, Quinn."

A protest lodged itself in her throat but it never came out. Steering herself towards her car, she waved. "I really need to be heading home. Bye, Cedes."

At the complete avoidance at the subject, Mercedes frowned but, when it registered that Quinn had used her nickname, she smiled. "Bye, Quinny Bee."

At her own old nickname, that Mercedes had started calling her teasingly but had become official over time, Quinn grinned as she entered her car. She had secluded herself after Beth's birth, ending her friendship with Mercedes and not allowing herself to really talk to anyone about anything. But everything seemed to be changing. Her friendship with Mercedes, perhaps, had been given a second chance and her relationship with Artie, whatever it might be, was growing.

Quinn could only blame progress and technology for these two developments.


	12. Make It Official

**_Part Twelve: Make It Official_**

By Friday morning, the Juniors and Seniors of McKinley were practically buzzing with excitement about the prom, which was only a day away. As Quinn walked down the hall, she couldn't help but feel more than a small amount of exuberance herself. It wasn't necessarily due to the prom itself but the thought of going with Artie, who had practically been a stranger to her only a few weeks beforehand. Now, he was a friend. And only a friend. Still, she couldn't help but question her feelings for Sam…not that that had anything to do with Artie. They didn't seem as strong as they once had. Slowing, she rounded a corner, coming face to face with the boy who had just entered her thoughts.

"Sam."

Arching an eyebrow, he nodded at her. "Quinn."

She quickly cast her eyes to the ground. "How are-"

"What's going on Quinn? Do you like me anymore? And what about Artie? Were you…with him, like with him with him, the other night?"

The questions came in a rush and Quinn blinked several times, mind trying to process. "Um…what? What?" Jerking her head up, she glared at him. "Why would you even think that, Sam? With Artie? I spent the night in the guest room and I can't believe you of all people would assume that something would happen. Especially since we're not officially broken up! I made that mistake once and it's NOT going to happen again."

Swallowing, Sam recoiled. "Oh…okay." Stretching out a hand, he brought it up to rub the back of his neck. "I'm sorry, Quinn. I know that you wouldn't do that but lately things have been so weird between us. I don't know what's going on. I'd like to know."

"I…don't know how to answer that, Sam." While gently biting her bottom lip, she took a step backward, the urge to run overcoming her.

He moved toward her, closing the distance between them. One hand touched her waist and she jumped. "I deserve to know if you're with me or not, Quinn."

Back against the wall, she gazed up at him and gulped. "I'm not sure. Can we talk about this after glee?" She didn't give him a chance to answer, slipping away from him and darting down the hall, not even glancing over her shoulder as she did so.

* * *

At lunch, Artie rolled himself into the cafeteria, eyes immediately landing on Brittany. When she spotted him, she stood, smiling and waving him over to her table, where a glowering Santana and sulking Puck were also sitting. Shaking his head, he backed up, turned around and headed for the double doors that led to the outside grounds of the school. He hadn't gotten far when he spied a familiar blonde head leaning against a willow tree that stood on the perimeter of the school, right across from the locker rooms. Wheeling himself her way, a smile broke out on his face.

"Hey, Quinn!" he greeted, coming to a stop next to her.

Inclining her head, she grinned up at him, hazel eyes shining. "Artie! What are you doing out here?"

Removing a sandwich and apple from his bag, he told her, "It's such a nice day, I didn't want to be cooped up inside. What about you, what are you doing out here?" Without thinking about it, he good naturedly nudged her head with the back of his hand.

Giving him a look at the contact which morphed into a smile, she shrugged. "Nice day."

Not entirely believing her but not wanting to push it, he gave a grunt of agreement. "Just like I said."

For a few minutes, the two of them ate their lunches in silence, Artie enjoying his ham on wheat while Quinn munched on pita chips and hummus, when Quinn lifted her eyes to his again. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," he responded, not bothering to chew up his bite of sandwich.

Laughing, Quinn pushed his knees. "Why do you always do that?"

"Be super adorable?" To emphasize, he winked down at her, very amused when the slightest hint of pink tinged her cheeks.

"No, talk with your mouth full." Stretching out her legs, she glanced up at him, raising both eyebrows and tucking her hands under her knees. "I guess it is kind of cute, in a gross way."

Spreading out his hands, as if to show himself off, he said, "You know you find me irresistible, yo."

Her lips parted slightly and her cheeks flushed even more at his words.

Almost choking on his sandwich at the adoration in her eyes, he stuttered, "W-what were you going to ask?"

Grazing her fingernails along the bottom of her cheerleading skirt, she directed her line of vision away from him. "Never mind."

Clearing his throat, Artie started at the rest of the sandwich in his lap. "You sure? You can talk to me about anything, you know."

"I know," she practically whispered, resting her chin against her upper chest. "But I figured it out."

Having no idea what she meant and, thus, not sure what to say, Artie took a savage bite of his sandwich. After a little while, he brought up Will Ferrell's guest spot on the Office and pretty soon, any awkwardness that had arisen was forgotten.

* * *

When Quinn entered the music room, rather hesitatingly, for glee later that day, Finn was talking loudly to Sam about their date for the next day. Even though Quinn wasn't looking forward to the conversation that would occur shortly after the meeting, she couldn't help but giggle as Finn said, "It'll be kind of romantic."

Balking, Sam replied, "Romantic? Dude, this is NOT a date. You're aware of that, right?"

"Dude," Finn shot back, quickly. "I was just saying." Out of the corner of her eye, Quinn saw Finn huffily fold his arms over his chest.

Sam let out a dramatic sigh and slumped in his seat.

To keep from laughing, Quinn had to cover her mouth.

"What's so funny?" came a voice on her left.

Swiveling her head, she smirked in Artie's direction. "Finn."

"Oh," Artie said, without missing a beat. "All excited about his man date with his man crush?"

"His man crush," she echoed, laughing loudly and drawing attention from everyone in the room. "Um, yes," she went on, in a hushed tone.

Merriment flashing across his blue eyes, he half grinned at her, starting to speak but was cut off when Mr. Schuester clapped his hands, signaling the beginning of the meeting. Under his breath, Artie said in a rush, "If we don't get a chance to talk later, I'm picking you up at five tomorrow. I'll be the hot guy in a top hat and a wheel chair."

Snorting a bit, Quinn focused as well as she could on Mr. Schuester, picturing Artie in his tux and hat which it made it far too easy to completely zone out.

* * *

As soon as Mr. Schuester dismissed the teens, Sam bounded to Quinn's side, an expectant expression on his face.

Taking a breath, Quinn stood, said goodbye to Artie, who appeared disappointed, and trailed along behind Sam into the hallway. Before he could say anything, she blurted, "Sam, I really liked you but things have changed and I can't really explain it all to you but they just have and this has nothing to do with Finn or anything like that. I just-"

"It's Artie, right?" Sam interrupted, looking at his shoes.

Wanting to be honest, Quinn lifted one shoulder. "Maybe. Partially." When Sam just stood there, quiet, Quinn continued. "I think we need to officially end this, Sam. I'm…I'm sorry." Turning, she ran down the hall, leaving him alone.

Except he wasn't alone. Popping up from seemingly out of nowhere, Finn attacked Sam in a giant bear hug. "I heard everything, man!"

Face blank, Sam accepted the hug, secretly grateful that Finn was there in his moment of heartbreak.


	13. Dinner With You

_Author's Note: I am disappointed in the SLs for Quinn and Artie on Glee atm. And ALSO...they have ruined chances of my epic Sam/Finn Bromance! Ruined it, yo! Boo. :( It will live on forever in fanfic though! And also, Quartie...will...happen. I'm trying to have faith! They're the only couple from Ballad without an extended SL so...it'll happen...and Quinn will be redeemed...and Artie will be with someone (QUINN!) who doesn't focus on the fact that his legs don't work. /mini rant over! _

_Things were asked for...and guess what? Things are happening! Review please! I love reviews! :D_

**_Part Thirteen: Dinner With You_**

"Prooooom!" hooted Finn, as he sat across the table from Sam, the soft lighting of Mario's illuminating his features, huge grin on his face.

Arching an eyebrow, Sam gave his friend a curt nod. "Yup, pretty soon we'll be at prom…"

Frowning, Finn stretched a hand across the table, placing his hand over Sam's. "Dude, it'll be fun. I'll make sure of it."

Picking up a piece of bread, Sam stared at Finn for a second, debating on whether or not he should squeeze Finn's hand. Shrugging, he turned his hand over and did it, laughing when Finn's face lit up. "Thanks, Finn. What're you ordering?"

After a brief examination of the menu, Finn announced, with some glee, "I think I'll get steak. Whoa, that's expensive!"

"It is," Sam chuckled, releasing Finn's hand, producing disappointment in the other boy, and grabbing a menu. "This place is expensive. You're paying right?"

Clearly, Finn had not been expecting that. "Uh…"

"Kidding!" Sam chortled. "I'm getting the chicken marsala and I will be paying for it myself."

After a sigh of relief, Finn started talking sports and the two boys spent the rest of the evening arguing about who the next Superbowl champion would be, though that game was a long time away.

* * *

The four sat at the table stiffly, awkwardly, eyes on the table, the food, the ceiling but never on one another. Finally, Kurt cleared his throat. "So, prom. This is one of the biggest nights of our high school careers. We should be…cheerful?"

Glaring at her date, Tina gave a fierce nod. "I'm cheerful. SO CHEERFUL!"

The other three at the table widened their eyes before Mike, glancing at his date, who looked like she had just stepped off the set of a magazine shoot, patted Tina's hand. "Did I mention you look…pretty?"

This only seemed to further agitate Tina and Kurt rolled his eyes at Mike's apparent inability to say the right thing. "Yes, yes, we all look fantastic. Waiter! We're ready to order."

Clearly uncomfortable and desiring to change that, Penelope leaned forward a bit. "Tina, you look lovely. I adore your dress. Where'd you get it?"

Apparently, Penelope's softly spoken question was just the ice breaker the group needed because conversation seemed to flow easily after it was posed…for the most part.

* * *

It was not shocking to Santana at all when Brittany announced that she wanted to go to McDonald's for their pre prom dinner. So, in their prom getups, the two girls sat across from each other in a small booth, eating big macs and french fries.

"I've been thinking, San, and I want to be a mermaid when I grow up but I don't know how to grow a fin!" Taking a big sip of her soda, Brittany's blue eyes grew very round. "Is Finn a fin or does he have one? Because his name is Finn and -"

"I don't think so, Britts." Licking the salt off her fingers, Santana sent a small smile her best friend's way. "But you and I can pretend to be mermaids in your pool like we did when were little. Remember?"

Sitting up straighter, Brittany squealed a little. "Yes! Can we do that after the prom thing?"

Laughing, Santana nodded. "Yes, we can." Picking up a stray piece of lettuce, Santana put it in her mouth, then chewed it thoughtfully. "I need to tell you something, Britts…I, um, I…lied on the survey."

In the middle of dancing her fingers on the table, Brittany looked up. "Was it comfortable?"

Though it was difficult, Santana resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Not that kind of lied…like I didn't tell the truth. I missed you and our friendship so I made up some of my answers, knowing what you'd answer. I just wanted us to spend some time together again."

Brittany was speechless for several long seconds before a rushed apology fell from her lips. "San, I'm soooo sorry! I'm such a bad friend."

"No, you're not," Santana protested, clamping her fingers around Brittany's. "I just…miss you."

"I miss you too!" In a short matter of time, Brittany had moved from her side of the booth to Santana's and thrown her arms around the other girl. Immediately hugging Brittany back, Santana closed her eyes and thought about how _much_ she had missed this.

* * *

When Puck hadn't informed Rachel about any before prom dinner plans, Rachel had taken matters into her own hands and prepared a homemade vegan dinner, arriving on his doorstep two hours prior to prom, palms sweaty and heart racing.

"Berry? Kinda early." He took a moment to approve of her figure before stepping aside to let her into his home. "And thought I was picking you up."

Holding up the basket of prepared foods, Rachel grinned up at him. "Dinner." Walking past him, she placed the basket on the nearest table, as it's weight was starting to hurt her arms.

When he put a hand on the small of her back, she jumped. "One word response? Doesn't seem like you."

Rubbing her lips together, she faced him, took a breath, then began to bare her heart to him, regardless of whatever the consequences might be.

* * *

The tub of ice cream on the coffee table and the romantic chick flick in the DVD player were all Mercedes needed. Screw prom. Screw stupid internet profile matching thing. Pressing play, Mercedes settled back on the couch, preparing for her alone girls night when the doorbell rang. Wondering who could be at her door, since all her friends were out having wonderful evenings with their prom dates, Mercedes rose, frown in place. Stopping at the mirror that served as a key holder and teeth checker, Mercedes surveyed her appearance then opened the door. When she saw who was standing there, her mouth dropped open.

"What? But…how?"

Flashing her a grin, Matt said, "You don't look ready for prom at all."

"Give me two seconds!" Mercedes cried, racing up the stairs to her room, having no idea why Matt was standing on her doorstep and not caring about that reason, whatever it might be.

* * *

Artie showed up at Quinn's house promptly at the time he had said he would, blindfold in hand. Confused about that, she eyed him warily, before gushing over adorable he looked he in his top hat.

"Adorably hot, right?" he quipped.

Almost giggling, but not quite, she nodded. "Adorably hot, fo sho, yo."

His eyes lit up at her use of language. "You starting to sound like Artie-fresh, woman."

Crossing her arms over her chest, she mock glared at him. "Who you calling woman, man?"

Grinning at the playful banter, which was so easy with her, he held up the blindfold. "Ready for your surprise dinner destination to be unveiled."

"Yes but I am not wearing that! It'll ruin my make up. But I promise I'll close my eyes."

Humphing, Artie muttered "Okay" then ushered her to his truck. "Get in, hurry."

Not sure what the rush was, Quinn complied and entered the cab, shutting her eyes tight. "I have to keep them closed the whole way?"

"Yes or you'll ruin the surprise."

Smiling, Quinn leaned back against the seat, making sure her hair was nowhere near anything that would mess it up, folding her hands in her lap. They both remained quiet for several minutes when Quinn realized what was playing on Artie's stereo. She almost opened her eyes but remembered herself just in time. "I love this song! Is this an 80s mix?"

"Yup, made it for our time spent in the truck, yo."

Being occupied with singing along to every song on the mix that Artie had created, the ride to the secret place went by fast.

"You can open your eyes now, Quinn."

Doing as told, Quinn's eyelids fluttered open, lighting on the restaurant they were parked in front of. "Artie, it's…it's…I've been wanting to go here forever and Chinese is my favorite!"

Smiling, Artie replied, "I thought Chinese might me your favorite since it's mine and we're so compatible. And…I overheard you telling someone that you wanted to go here months ago. I was hoping that maybe you hadn't and this would be new for both of us."

"I haven't!" Quinn exclaimed, spontaneously wrapping both arms around him and pulling herself closer to him. A few songs played while they remained in the embrace.

Rather reluctantly, Artie broke it, drawing far enough away from her that he could look into her eyes but still close enough that her lips were too near to his and enticing at that. Gulping involuntarily, he squeaked, "Oh."

Blushing a bit, Quinn echoed, softly, "Oh."

"I'm, um, I'm hungry," Artie stuttered, dropping his hands to his lap and away from her sides. "Are you hungry? That reminds me of that game Hungry, Hungry Hippos. Have you ever played that? I actually own it so if you ever wanted to, you could play."

Quinn waited until his random ramble was through before speaking. "I think I'd like that. And, yes, I am hungry."

Scrambling, Artie got out first and, like the perfect gentleman, opened the door for Quinn. Taking his hand, she stepped down, the bottom of her red vintage dress swishing as she did so. "I'm so getting those crab cream cheese wanton things," she told him.

"Yum!" he cried, rubbing his stomach eagerly.

"Yum, fo sho."

"Fo sho, woman."

Feeling more light hearted than she ever had, really, Quinn went inside the restaurant, Artie right behind her. As a hostess guided them to their table, she felt extremely grateful for progress and technology pairing her and Artie together for the prom. It was as if fate had played a hand or something.


	14. Prom!

_Author's Note: Longest chapter yet! But I still feel like I didn't fit in enough or everything that I wanted to...oh well. Also, this is NOT the last chapter. There is a part 15...be on the look out! And, also, review, please! :)_

**_Part Fourteen: Prom!_**

"We're late!" Artie practically yelled, eyes on the digital clock that shone bright red numbers on his dash.

"By ten minutes, if that," Quinn laughed, smoothing the front of her dress and observing the boy beside her out of the corner of her eye. "And it's always good to make a fashionably late entrance, right?"

"Right!" Artie exclaimed, bringing his truck to a squealing stop in the parking lot of the hotel where the prom was taking place that year. "How do I look?" he asked, half turning to face her before exiting the vehicle. "Dashing?"

Glimpsing the smallest bit of red sauce at the corner of his mouth, she held in more laughter, stretching out her hand and gently rubbing the sauce away. At her touch, his cheeks flushed pink and, though she wasn't aware of it, so did hers. "As dashing as Humphrey Bogart at the end of Casablanca." When he stared at her blankly, she let out an exaggerated sigh. "Remind me to make you watch that."

"Casablanca. Watch it. Got it." Grinning, he grabbed his top hat, placing it on his head, then got out, circling as quickly to her side of the truck so he could help her out.

Carefully, she stepped out, pressing her fingers to his. When her feet hit the ground, their fingers remained entangled. "Thank you, kind sir."

Tilting his heat forward a bit, he responded, "You're welcome, kind lass."

"Kind…lass?" Walking beside him toward the entrance of the hotel, she laughed again.

Shrugging, he wheeled slowly, making pace with her steps. "It works."

Before Quinn could reply, a stretch hummer pulled right in front of them. Sam and Finn fell out, shouting about how awesome prom was and how they loved progress and technology. When Sam's eyes lit on Quinn, his jubilant spirit seemed to waver a bit but when Finn wrapped an arm around his shoulders, the merriment that had been fading flashed across his face again and the two boys went inside. Hesitating, Quinn watched their retreating backs a moment, startled when Artie placed his arm around her waist, drawing her closer to him.

"Ready?"

Biting her bottom lip, she nodded, once. "Ready."

Their journey was rather short, as they ran into a bouncing Rachel and seemingly stoic Puck. "Hello, Quinn and Artie. How are you two? Noah and I are fine! In fact, we are more than fine!" Taking the hand of the now trying not to smile Puck, Rachel bounced some more. "You two can be the first to know that Noah and I are officially an item, as the saying goes. I told Noah that I was interested in pursuing a romantic relationship with him, for the second time since he joined glee club, and he replied -"

"Berry!" Puck cut her off. "They get it. No need to go into detail."

Pouting, Rachel let Puck drag her away, with a slight wave over her shoulder, saying, "But, Noah, it's such a lovely story…"

Tilting his head, Artie squinted at their backs. "Huh. Makes sense though."

"I do believe they make a most lovely couple!" Quinn said, attempting to make herself sound like Rachel.

Busting out laughing, Artie involuntarily grasped her wrist, fingers skimming over her pulse. When she softly gasped, Artie considered dropping his hand but, instead, he tightened his grip, gazing up at her until she shifted her eyes toward his and made eye contact. "Quinn -"

"Artie, Quinn!" The moment was ended when two arms took turns in yanking them both into warm hugs. "I've missed you!"

"Matt?" Inclining his head, Artie half grinned up at the old friend. "What are you doing here?"

From behind him, Mercedes, a stunning sight in her bright orange dress, piped up, hands on her hips, "The school contacted him about the mistake and he decided to come out." Stepping forward, she linked her arm with Matt's, a huge smile on her face. She didn't notice when Matt's eyes furtively turned toward Quinn.

But Artie did. "The school contacted you…" Artie trailed off, glancing between Matt and Quinn, pieces clicking into place, as he saw Quinn, in his mind's eye, knocking over some pens and scribbling words onto a scrap of paper while in the school's office. "That was pretty cool of…the school."

Tugging on Matt's arm with her own, Mercedes nodded toward the double doors that led into the hotel. "We're going to go get our picture taken. See you inside!"

Eyeing Quinn, Artie tapped his fingers against the rims of his wheels. "The school went to all that trouble for Mercedes. Gotta say, it's pretty awesome of the school to do something like that." Winking, he pushed himself to the door, opening it so she could move inside. Her cheeks colored so they matched the shade of her dress. "Don't worry," he whispered, as she passed by him. "I won't tell her or anyone it was you."

Her expression softened and she leaned over, lightly kissing his upper cheek. "Thank you, Artie."

Gulping, he waited for her to pull away but she didn't, mouth hovering close to his for the second time that evening. Part of him just wanted to close the gap and discover what her mouth would feel like against his but a nagging in the back of his head gave him pause. That's when he spotted, over Quinn's bare shoulder, Brittany and Santana, holding hands and skipping. Closing his eyes, he let out a giant exhale of breath…right into Quinn's face.

Raising both eyebrows, Quinn fake grimaced. "Glad you had Chinese earlier because, if not, that could've been kind of unpleasant."

"What?" Realizing what he had just done, Artie blinked. "Oh. Sorry. Um, hey, I'll be right back?"

Nodding, Quinn straightened, twisting around to watch as he chased after his sort of girlfriend. Holding her head high, she pretended as if it didn't hurt, to see him go after Brittany. But it was just a pretend and tears stung her eyes, threatening to fall and ruin her make up. Shaking her head, she discreetly dabbed at her eyes with her fingers, then floated to the main hall where the dance was taking place.

Hurrying, Artie scooted his chair toward the best friends, calling out, "Brittany!"

The tall, bubbly blonde spun on a heel, grin breaking out on her face once their eyes met. "Artie!" Releasing Santana's hand, which hurt the other, though her face was a well guarded mask, Brittany ran to him and embraced him, burying her face in his shoulder. "You're here!"

"Uh, yeah." Breaking her hold on him, Artie took her hands. "Brittany, I need to talk to you." Seating herself in his lap, she waited for him to say what he needed to, her eyes bright. A part of him wanted to just roll away and not say what he knew he should, saving the difficult speech for another day. But then he thought of Quinn and he knew he couldn't wait. "Look, I've really liked you. Maybe even more than liked you, Britt. But I…something's happened and I can't deny it. If I didn't…feel this way, maybe, but I do and so we must…break up."

The way Brittany scrunched up her face for most of his incoherent babbling of a speech alerted him to the fact that she had no idea what he meant, until he uttered, "break up." Bottom lip trembling, she held her position for several seconds. "You…want to…break up?"

Feeling worse by the second, Artie let his head hang. "I'm really sorry, Britt."

"I think you've said enough," snapped Santana, clutching Brittany to her side. "Have fun with Ms. Princess. I'm sure you two deserve each other or something." Sneering, Santana guided Brittany away from her now ex-boyfriend.

Not sure what to do next, since it was his first time officially breaking up with someone, Artie continued to remain immobile for quite some time. A few dances must have passed by because suddenly he over heard the DJ announcing that it was time to declare that year's prom King and Queen. Quickly, he spun around, one word escaping. "Quinn."

On the fringes of the crowd, Quinn stood near Tina and Mike, who were currently in the middle of a heated discussion, which Quinn was certainly not eavesdropping in on.

"You obviously like her," Tina hissed, eyes narrowed into the tiniest of slits.

"No," Mike insisted, hand approaching her waist. Upon seeing this, she slapped it, the sound of the impact causing even Quinn to wince. "Tina, babe, I'm with you. I like you. Yeah, I think she's attractive…but she's not you."

Even though Quinn didn't care about Tina and Mike's relationship, she couldn't help but smile at the exchange. Subtly glancing over her shoulder, she saw the couple in the middle of ending their feud with a kiss. Disrupting the sweet moment, Kurt rushed over, gossip falling from his lips before even a greeting.

"Oh my God, guys, Artie dumped Brittany! Word on the dance floor is it has to do with another certain blonde."

When his eyes transferred from theirs to hers, she swiveled her neck too fast, causing a crick to form. Eyes wide, she contemplated Kurt's words, curious as to whether it was more than just a rumor and, if not, could she be "another certain blonde"? Her thoughts began to spiral, her heart racing. Wiping now sweaty palms on the skirt of her dress, she lifted her eyes, scanning the crowd. Artie was nowhere to be seen.

Chewing on the inside of her cheek, Quinn thought that maybe she should go find him. But he might want to be alone, post break up. Or…perhaps there was no truth in what she had just listened to. Option number two made her heart sink.

When a hand nudged her shoulder, she was brought crashing back to reality. "Quinn," she heard Tina saying. "They're about to pick King and Queen. You need to be on stage."

Blindly, she stalked through the crowd, slowly climbing the steps to the small stage where the other nominees stood. The bright lights restricted her vision so that when her eyes flitted from face to face of those watching, she saw only grey blobs.

"Your nominees for Prom King are," Mr. Schuester bellowed into the microphone, excitement in his tone. "Finn Hudson, Noah Puckerman, Mike Chang, Sam Evans and Dave Karofsky!" After a brief period of cheering, the DJ hushed the crowd. "And McKinley High's 2011 prom King is…Sam Evans!"

Bashfully, Sam stepped forward, hunching over so that Principal Figgins could put the plastic crown on his blonde locks.

"And your nominees for most vapid, I mean prom Queen, all of whom have less hair product in their updos than my curly-haired date," Coach Sylvester was cackling, earning a glare from Mr. Schuester. "are Brittany Pierce, Santana Lopez, Annie Perry, Kaylee Reynolds and Quinn Fabray." Clicking her tongue against the top of the mouth, Coach Sylvester went on, "And the winner is Quinn. Congratulations, poster child for teen pregnancy and captain of the Cheerios."

Forcing herself to smile, especially in light of the cheerleading coach's barbed comment, Quinn accepted the crown graciously from Principal Figgins, almost choking on a laugh when she remembered how not many months beforehand, her one wish was that she and Sam would be crowned King and Queen. Her wish had changed drastically since then, had scattered into many wishes, most of which had to do with Artie and none of which she fully understood. In that moment, what she wanted more than anything was simply to dance with him. However, it was tradition that King and Queen dance together so Quinn steeled herself for the most awkward dance ever. But McKinley was always bucking tradition, it seemed.

"King and Queen," Principal Figgins called out. "Select your partners for the King and Queen dance."

Surprised, Quinn let out a little squeal, which Sam heard and flinched, then stumbled down the stairs, legs ramming into something hard at the bottom. Letting out a oof, she collapsed against…a top hat.

"Woman, you almost crushed my hat!"

Upon hearing the voice that had become so familiar over a short period of time, Quinn grinned. "Well, it was in my way. It should have watched where it was going."

Righting his hat, Artie arched an eyebrow. "Always blaming the hat!" Quirking her mouth, Quinn was prepared to retort about how she would never blame the hat but, rather, him, when he brushed his fingers against the bottom of her dress. "Looking for a dance partner?"

"Might be," she hummed. "You know of any?"

"There's this one I might know…who's available to dance and…just available."

Hearing the tone in his voice and seeing the frankness in his eyes, Quinn knew that Brittany and Artie really were no more. "That's good," she purred, dropping into his lap.

Adoring eyes on her, Artie slid his arms around her waist, drawing her closer to him. Their foreheads touched, their bodies barely swaying in time to the music.

Nearby, Finn opened his arms to Sam, clearly believing that Sam would choose him to be his partner for the dance. "Uh, hey…yeah." Jerking his head in Brittany's direction, Sam told Finn, "Brittany's pretty sad, dude, so I'm going to dance with her."

Noticing the way Brittany's mouth was dropping, Finn nodded. "Oh, yeah." After Sam had asked Brittany, Finn declared, to all around him, "My best friend, Sam, he's such an awesome dude." This no one could argue with.

Once the song ended, Quinn stayed put, having zero desire to separate from him. "Artie…"

"Quinn…" Skimming his fingers up her back, he rested his temple against hers. "I'd like to hang out with you. A lot. As often as possible. Play Hungry, Hungry Hippos -"

Not on purpose, she ended his rambling by running a finger along his bottom lip. "Yes."

"Yes?"

"Yes," she repeated, half lidded eyes on his. "I agree."

Boldness swept over him and, without wavering, he kissed the center of her palm, beaming when she shivered. "So you busy tomorrow for lunch?"

"I'll have to check my day planner…" At her comment, his fingers launched themselves in a tickling attack until finally, gasping for breath, she relented. "No, no, I'm not busy!"

"That's what I thought." Rubbing his nose against hers, he smiled. "Can't stop smiling around you."

"Funny," she murmured, tucking her hands under the lapels of his jacket. "I can't stop smiling around you either."

And as another song began, they both smiled, enveloped in each other's arms under a long banner on which read, "Progress: Technology is Our Future."


	15. And What Happened Next

_Author's Note: And the final part! I thought this would be an interesting epilogue and these things happen at the end of, say, movies, so this is my extended version of those...endings lol. Lots of marriage, haha! This story has been pretty fun to write and I hope it was fun to read! Thanks to everyone who has faithfully reviewed and thanks to all those added it to favorites! :)_

**_Part 15: And What Happened Next..._**

_Schue/Sue_

Though they had not interacted at prom, but a little, the Schue and Sue continued to have mostly volatile confrontations at school, even after the original members of William Schuester's reinvented glee club graduated and moved on to, in some cases, bigger and better things. The high point of their relationship came four years after the prom for which they had been paired by an internet survey.

One night, after a field trip in Vegas, where both Cheerios and gleeks alike congregated for the purpose of a high school performer's conference, the two got in a rather heated argument then woke up the next morning, in the same bed and married.

The marriage was annulled two days later.

_Tina/Kurt_

"You're not wearing that, are you?" Kurt asked, sniffing the air in an offended manner as Tina spun around, showing him her graduation dress.

Huffing, Tina placed a hand on her hip. "And what is wrong with it?"

Hearing her angry tone and ignoring it, as he often did, Kurt shrugged. "The purple one looked better."

"But I didn't LIKE the purple one!" she yelled.

Rolling his eyes, Kurt muttered, "Fine."

The short conversation was just an example of their friendship, a friendship that continued for many years in the same manner, Kurt being one of the rare people who didn't react when Tina's sometimes misplaced temper raged for a reason or none at all.

They ended up being a cat lady and man years later, even though he was a star of Broadway and she an elementary school teacher. Even though their lives weren't what they thought they'd be, they were really happy.

_Mike/Penelope_

Because of Mike, Penelope ended up joining glee club her senior year and even beating Rachel out for the solo in the regional's competition. She asked Mike to be her date to the Homecoming dance but, due to heartbreak over Tina, he opted to stay home and eat chocolate ice cream. After this, they didn't speak much until years later, at the ten year high school reunion. They introduced each other to spouses and her little two year old boy and his little one year old girl.

Twenty five years later, the two families came together to watch their children be joined together in holy matrimony.

_Mercedes/Matt_

"Hey bff, what's going on? I'm chilling. Well not chilling as much as stressing out over finals."

"Finals here too. Video chat tonight?"

"It is Friday…"

"Yup ;)"

Every Friday, starting the Friday after the prom, Matt and Mercedes used their webcam's to video chat, getting to know one another better than anyone had before, though Matt never did let slip that Quinn was the reason he had shown up to prom that night. Their friendship continued through college and well into their thirties, when Mercedes got engaged to the man of her dreams.

"Finally found the one," she texted Matt, not five minutes after the question had been popped. "Going to get married!"

"That's great Mer-Mer!"

Although Mercedes had always wanted a traditional wedding, she broke tradition in order to make Matt her Man of Honor.

And when the glowing couple said, "I do," Matt was probably crying.

_Brittany/Santana_

When Santana got pregnant in the middle of her junior year of college and the father skipped out on her, she felt so alone. Thinking she didn't really have any other viable options, she ended up dropping out and moving back to Lima. Her parents weren't too happy about the situation but they would never reject her so she ended up living with them for two months. But when Brittany suggested the two of them moving out of their parents houses and living together, Santana readily agreed.

"Are you going to have a kitten?" Brittany asked, as the two girls stared, in awe, at the picture from Santana's first ultrasound.

"What?" Santana scrunched up her brow and looked at her friend curiously. Brittany may not have been the brightest person ever but even she knew that people gave birth to people and not animals.

"Because Alex," she went on, speaking of the father of Santana's baby, whom Brittany had only seen one picture of. "Looks like a cat."

Bursting into laughter, Santana had to agree that Alex did, indeed, look like a cat.

Seven months later, Cassandra Rainbow Lopez was brought into the world, crying with a full set of healthy lungs. Brittany and Santana raised her together, balancing each other out as parents, since Santana could sometimes be too hard edged while Brittany could be too lax. Men came and went throughout the years but the best friends always had each other and, of course, little Cassandra.

_Finn/Sam_

On a bright, sunny day, Sam stood at the altar, across from the woman who was about to exchange vows with him. He smiled when she did, a huge toothy grin that split his face.

"…speak now or forever hold your peace," the priest was saying. After a few moments of silence, he started to move on to the next portion of the ceremony. He had barely gotten any words out when the back doors crashed open and a very tall man galloped through them.

"Wait, wait!" he cried, hurrying to the altar.

"You know of a reason these two should not be joined in holy matrimony?" the priest queried, looking at the man over the tip of his nose.

"What?"

Seeing the confusion on his friend's face, Sam clapped him on the back. "Just say no, Finn." Before Finn could ask what drugs had to do with anything, Sam quickly commented, "You're late."

"Dude," Finn whispered, embarrassed at the way everyone was staring at him. "I lost the invitation…"

Holding in a laugh, Sam pointed to the best man position. "That's okay. You're allowed to stay."

"Oh, cool," Finn replied, letting out a breath of relief at the same time.

Glancing at his soon to be wife, chuckling at the good natured way she rolled her eyes at Finn, Sam nodded. "Let's do this?"

Giggling, the almost Mrs. Evans signaled for the priest, who did not look amused, to start again.

Sam wasn't surprised when, as he kissed her minutes later, Finn let out a giant whoop and, once the kiss was threw, practically tackled them to the ground, but not quite, in a huge hug.

_Puck/Rachel_

Two months after prom, Puck and Rachel broke up. Five months after that, they got back together again. Three weeks after that, they broke up again. This pattern continued for years, the two becoming the poster on again, off again relationship. After some consideration, at the age of thirty five, Rachel decided to end their relationship once and for all, especially since her Noah couldn't make any kind of promise of a lasting commitment to her. They both went their separates ways, eventually finding love with others.

On her thirty eighth birthday, Rachel was not thinking about Puck nor about their failed relationship, as she readied herself for the birthday dinner her boyfriend of two years had organized.

She had met him after her fifth stage performance of Wicked and there had been an almost instantaneous connection though it lacked the amount of chemistry she had had with Puck. However, Rachel understood that that particular kind of chemistry did not happen often.

Thoughts still not centered on her past love, she put one long, black dangling earring into place and began to reach for the other when the doorbell rang. Knowing her boyfriend wouldn't be so early, Rachel, frowning, went to answer. She was more than a little surprised to find Noah Puckerman standing there, hands shoved in pockets. Upon seeing her, his eyes lit up, despite the fact that she was still in her sweats, had no make up on and only one earring in.

"Rach…" For a second he appeared uncertain how to continue. Then, surprising her much more than just a little, he dropped to one knee, the question in his eyes easy to read.

Without hesitating, she threw herself into his arms, a yes, in the form of a squeal, exiting from her lips.

After that, their relationship was always "on again."

_Quinn/Artie_

Their first official date was on July 4. Under the fireworks, they shared a bowl of popcorn and a basket of strawberries and, when the moment was right, a kiss.

When they pulled away from the kiss, Quinn's teeth tugged on her bottom lip and Artie let out a sigh, involuntarily.

Hearing it, Quinn grinned. "That good, huh?"

Noticing the smirk on her face, Artie shrugged. "It was a'ight."

With a roll of her eyes, Quinn slightly pushed on his shoulder. "Admit it."

Leaning back on his elbows, Artie turned his gaze from her to the skies above, the fireworks reflecting in his blue orbs. "Admit what?"

Scooting herself across the soft green blanket, she whispered into his ear, "That it was the best kiss of your life."

Shifting, he let his eyes flick to her face, hovering close to his, for a second. "Was it that for you?"

Lowering her mouth back to his ear, her breath hot, she murmured, "It was."

"Hmm…" Arching an eyebrow, Artie turned his head so that their lips were almost touching. "Then we should definitely do it again."

"I agree," she replied, closing the distance between them.

The remainder of the fireworks show, all fifteen minutes of it, went by much too quickly for the two, who were not paying any attention to it.

After that, there were many more dates, accompanied by sweet moments, angst-ridden moments, almost break ups and make ups that were, as Artie put it, "epically hot," which always made Quinn laugh and want to kiss him.

On graduation day, Artie, the salutatorian for the class of 2012, to Rachel's valedictorian, a title Artie wasn't sure how he had received, Artie gave a small speech, especially compared to Rachel's twenty minute one, that focused a lot on progress and technology.

"Progress and technology are the cornerstones upon which are society has become grounded. Without progress and technology, what could we accomplish? We couldn't get twitter updates about our friend's favorite bands or tweets that crush us when it becomes aware that our favorite show is teetering on the edge of getting canceled. We wouldn't be able to comment on a facebook status that declares, stupidly, that the Star Wars prequel trilogy is better than the original trilogy. But most of all, without progress and technology many of us would never find that one person for us, the one person we know we want to spend the rest of our lives with. And I'm not talking about eHarmony here but, rather, a survey two people who didn't know each other very well filled out over a year ago that led to something great." Spinning around, so that his back was toward the audience, Artie's eyes met Quinn's, whose laughter had ceased and who was now staring at him, mouth agape. "You might be wondering what any of this has to do with us graduating. It does, to an extent, because we will all be dealing with progress and technology as we venture forth in life but, really, I just wanted to use it as a call back to what brought Quinn and I together. And I wanted to use it as an excuse to ask her something. I know we're young but I don't care. I love you, Quinn. And I know we're going to spend the rest of our lives together. So will you marry me?"

Other than rapidly swallowing, Quinn froze. A sharp edged elbow to her ribs, courtesy of Santana, caused her to spring into action. Leaping to her feet, Quinn said yes, far too quietly for Artie to hear, then dashed onto the stage, throwing her arms around Artie and peppering his faces with kisses.

"Is that a yes, woman?"

Settling in his lap, she nodded sharply. "Fo sho, Artie-fresh, fo sho."

When they got married, two years later, the theme for their wedding, one that was partly tongue in cheek, was progress and technology.

The facebook invitation that was sent to the friends and family who had it read:

_You are cordially invited to the wedding of_

_Quinn Fabray and Artie Abrams_

_Who were brought together by progress and technology_

_Though both believe that fate played a hand_

_And really, it was impossible to deny._

_Will you attend? Yes No Maybe_


End file.
